Night Life
by DeviousKid3
Summary: A place where speed has been handed down from one generation to the next. A place where you race with honor that is equal to the competition. What awaits in this place, who knows? The night tends to shroud a lot of things, one thing in particular: Fox. AU
1. Chapter 1

Here we go, the newly revamped chapter's of _Night Life_.

So somethings have remained the same while other things are going to become different. How different? Well that's up to you to decide, but I will say that it's different to the point that I have taken down chapter's 4-9. I have to admit that the pace of the story was a bit slow to my taste so a lot of re-writing will and is being taken place.

Though some of you may read chapter one several times, I must- no I beg of you to re-read it because... well somethings are different.

Thank you for all the support to this point, I hope you guys enjoy the new take on things.

**_Chapter 1 Re-Written_**

* * *

'Damn this rider' thought a raven haired teen as he and his shadow rounded the fourth corner so far.

Originally the teen planned to take his GSXR 1000 for a run around Konoha in the crisp night air. He never expected that competition would come out of no where when the raven hair rider shot down a main street that proved to be an invigorating straight away. The midnight colored helmet did a quick double take into the bike's rear view mirror as it's falcon design shone under the moonlight. His bike blended with the night air, but the navy blue designs on his bike shone under the quick passing of a street light, and at the tail of his bike was his clan's signature fan on either side. Said rider professionally executed a cornering techniques after the second light the two passed. To his dismay, the mysterious rider who showed up earlier perfectly mimed his movements. Sasuke Uchiha has met his match.

His competition sported a dark orange helmet with a black stripe design coming from the corners of his shaded visor, the right side of his helmet had the kanji for 'Fox' tattooed there. The competitor rode up next to the Uchiha, but still somewhat trailed him, taking advantage of this Sasuke glanced into his rear view mirror once more to see a Yamaha YZF600R, a mere Thundercat against his GSXR. The front half of the bike also had a dark orange base, like his helmet, with black tribal designs that made his tail end completely black as well, from where Sasuke was he could see that there was also more designs on his tail.

The two cornered yet another turn, Sasuke's competitor being the ultimate shadow. The Uchiha rider could feel his blood pumping at the thought of his competitions skill. Said competition began to gas his engine a bit more, but Sasuke caught him on in time to follow the suit. In the still night the two topped out in speeds of 130 mph as both fought for dominance in the street. Soon the GSXR found the lead once more, but had to come to a complete halt, for the two rode right into a dead end street. Sasuke gently squeezed his breaks as his bike got down to 90 mph, then executed a power slide, his tail end barely nicked the metal railings of the dead end street. His competition opted for doing a stoppie instead of a power slide, less strain on the tire, but more the chance of being flipped off your bike. That and the orange rider didn't have that great of a break to withstand a power slide at 90 mph

"Nice GSXR." a gruff voice came from the orange helmet after coming to a complete stop.

"You too." Sasuke replied as he flipped his visor up for a better view of the man who was almost his equal "Never seen a Thundercat ride like that before" The Uchiha eyed YZF600R, the tail end had the kanji for 'Kitsune' on the left and its translation on the right.

"I take it that you've done some work on that Suzuki" the voice continued, it sounded genuinely interested "It rides better, breaks better too, than other Suzuki's I've raced" Sasuke had a small smirk grow on under his helmet.

"You learn from experience." came a casual reply.

"I noticed." The orange rider reved his engine.

"Sasuke Uchiha"

"Fox" and with that the rider rode off, leaving a slightly irritated GSXR owner there in that dead end street. Sasuke sighed, he was positive he'll see that man who calls himself Fox again no doubt. It seems that Konoha has a new rider to enjoy it's night life.

Fox rode about Konoha for about fifteen minutes at cruising speeds. He took a turn down an alley way and rode out onto a backstreet that seemed forgotten as the city progressed into the modern times. The mysterious biker then rode down another unused alley and came out at what appeared to be a storage district, which was also forgotten in time, that was once used by the Namikaze Shipping Company. Riding down the rows of uniformly built warehouses he came to one near the edge of a pond that stretched into the forest's opening. He opened a panel that seemed unused for some time and punched a 9-digit code. The metal warehouse door began to open big enough for an 18 wheeler to be parked.

As he entered Fox placed his bike to the left side of the docking zone, the pit-like area was his garage space. He climbed a ladder off to the right of the entrance on to the surrounding concrete, which was stage-like, that formed the U-shaped docking pit, it raised about 10 feet off the ground. Fox used the whole concrete platform as a home; kitchen, bathroom, and living room. Turns out the Namikaze before him had a passion similar to Konoha's current generation, he transformed one of the unused warehouses into a suitable living quarters, well that was almost 20 years ago so Fox had to do a lot of revamping to the place before he moved in. Finally Fox came to the final ladder, it was welded firmly on the metal platform off to the far left corner from the entrance. It raised 20 feet off above the concrete platform and was still as sturdy as ever. Fox used this as a bed room of the sort, he set up a futon and small coffee table that lifted 2 feet off the ground, atop the table was a small lamp and school supplies.

Fox slipped off his helmet to reveal the golden spikes it hidden, the teen glanced at his phone before placing it down on the table next to his helmet, the time read 2 in the morning and he had school that day, after all he only needed to finish about a month and a half of school then Sophomore year was over. Silently Fox thought of his encounter with Sasuke Uchiha, Academy High, and what exactly his long forgotten home town remembers of him.

* * *

'Fucking alarm...' It was obvious that the pink haired teen was extremely aggravated at the time, she stayed out too late at the meet the night before, that and the only time she cussed was when she was irritated. Nothing a nice shower and other hygienic routines would fix. Sakura Haruno then sported her black leggings, khaki mini-skirt, and pink v-neck shirt that showed what it was suppose to show. The 16 year old worked her way into the kitchen, she imagined that her mother was still getting ready for the day so she settled for some pop tarts.

Grabbing her white leather bike jacket with the custom pink dragon design courtesy of a certain someone she shared an interest with, she headed to her garage. She grabbed her white helmet with custom falling cherry blossom's, courtesy of same someone, and opened her garage. There was her Honda CBR600RR, it had a stock white and black colors, but had a dragon and cherry blossom design extending from the front of her bike to the tail, everything was a courtesy of this same certain special someone.

'He's here before me?' Sakura saw his bike parked already in his spot as she cruised into the Academy's parking lot. There were as many bikes as there were cars, after all the fast life was the lively hood of Konoha. Sakura smiled at the thought and silently thanked the man responsible for the law where if your driving over 90 mph no chase will be given, but if they spot your plates you can be ticketed. Then again that's even more of a reason to go even faster.

Sakura parked her bike and began her walk inside the Academy, she received many glances from the students. This was nothing new to the Haruno, after all, she IS one of the best riders in the Academy and that's saying something. As she retrieved books and other necessities from her locker she felt a certain someone's presence right next to her, yes THAT certain someone who has given her what she has mentioned before.

Sasuke Uchiha, her boyfriend, stood there with a nonchalant expression. Sakura Haruno, girlfriend of Sasuke Uchiha, returned the gesture with equal flare.

"Tch... Hey" He gave up on the expression and looked down at her with gentle eyes.

"Morning Sasuke-kun" She gave him a bright smile and a peck on the cheek as the Uchiha dropped his cold demeanor for a casual look. "Have a nice night?" Sakura recalled the aggravated texts she received from Sasuke first thing in the morning.

"Tch." Sasuke and an annoyed expression and leaned against the locker. Sakura shook her head and stared Sasuke down so that he would finally tell her who the mystery man was that he mentioned in his texts from the night before. "He's some new comer, rides a supped up Thundercat that makes you question if that bike has any of its original parts. He managed to keep up with me AND shadow me, the guy's insane." He sighed once more "But then again, I can't wait to really race him though." Sakura shot him an impatient expression.

"What do you mean by YOU get to race him?" Sakura retorted as she placed her helmet inside the locker "I let you get at that last guy, Neji, in a race. It's my turn now Sasuke-kun" she gave him a look that he hated with all his heart.

"Fine... you take him." He looked away as his girlfriend ceased the look "I don't get how you do that..."

"It's a girl thing" She latched onto his arm and giggled at his antics, Sasuke couldn't help but put on a small grin.

"Look, it's Falcon and Dragon Blossom" Sakura heard the gossip go about as the two walked down the halls together, she sighed. The pinkette had a feeling that some nerd would try to talk to her about it, after all, she and Sasuke only hooked up about a week ago. But even before that the two still had a more-than-friendly feeling towards one another for a what seemed years when in fact it was just a few months.

"So Dragon Blossom are we on still for tomorrow night?" Sasuke stopped in front of her homeroom class and the bell signaling school to begin the 15 minute homeroom period rang.

"So long as I get first dibs on that Fox guy Falcon-kun." she smile sweetly at the now brooding teen.

"I gotta think about that" He gave her a smirk that earned him a light slap on the arm and his girlfriend walking into the classroom. The first 5 minutes of the ten minute homeroom period was uneventful, that was until their Sensei interrupted her time of boring peace and quiet.

"We have a new transfer student." The sensei began in an monotonous tone that still grabbed the classes attention "His name's Naruto Uzumaki, I expect you to treat him well and take care of him." The Sensei finished his speech and appointed the blond to a seat next to Sakura.

"Hey." Was the first thing he said to her as he sat down to her left near the window. Sakura was a bit saddened as the new guy took his seat, it would now be awkward for her to look out the window with him there now.

"Sakura Haruno, nice to meet you Naruto" She replied warmly as she took note of the fact he only carried his books and other essentials, she assumed that his bag was in his locker.

"Mind showing me around later Sakura-san?" The whiskered teen felt the new-kid-on-the-block uneasiness as he began to get situated in his seat, but the sight of a friendly Sakura Haruno settled his nerves a bit.

"Sure, I don't mind showing you around a bit." She felt the nerve racking aura the blond emitted and flashed a smile that made Naruto's heart skip a crucial beat, he shrugged the feeling off as soon as it came. "If you need anything else just tell me, I'd be more than happy to help you out."

"I'd appreciate that." He emitted a warm smile, Sakura thought she felt a blush but quickly pushed the thought away.

'Damn she is cute.' Naruto's gazed lingered a second longer as Sakura turned her attention to the front of the class. In turn the blond averted his attention to the window as he gazed at the scenery outside, he spotted a parking garage structure not too far from the school and let his eyes rest on the structure for what seemed like hours.

Sakura gave Naruto a quick once over while he was distracted with looking out the window, he sported a black-tee, white half-jacket, loose jeans and white and black tennis shoes. 'Not bad...' She thought to herself, the new kid could be an interesting one. 'I wonder if he's into fast life too, he seems like the type.' The bell signaling the end of homeroom rang and the start of one of first four periods of the day, and the end of her train of thought.

* * *

"Oh man... who would have thought that my teacher would turn out to be one of those stereo-typical old guys." Naruto stretched out his arms, his mind fried from the old man's ranting.

Sakura giggled at the blond teen's antics "Well it has it's upsides, Sensei is an oblivious individual." That helped explained why the guy in the third row never got caught texting out in the open. 'His phone was right there in front of his freaking face!' Naruto thought as he trailed his guide.

"So is there anything decent to eat here?" Naruto's been to his share of schools around the whole continent, and ninety-percent of the time the food was always just tolerable enough for his stomach.

"Don't worry too much about dying from poisonous sandwiches, the food's pretty decent for school food." Sakura explained "Just avoid the nacho's though, they taste a bit funny..." Naruto only needed to be warned once about 'funny' food.

"Alright then I'll keep that in mind." The two then entered the cafeteria, the place was littered with students left and right.

"The line for meals are over there." She made a gesture "Vending machines are outside in the courtyard and a couple more tables for when the weather's nice like today."

"Thanks Sakura-san."

"No problem Naruto." Sakura attention then caught another blond "Well, I guess I'll see you at class then." And with that she left him to join her group of friends.

"Hope class starts real soon then." Naruto added softly, his gaze slow diverted to her hips as she walked away. Quickly he looked away and pondered what he should get for lunch.

"Hey Sakura!" Ino scooted over on the bench as her best friend took a seat with her and Hinata in the courtyard.

"Hey Ino, hey Hinata. How was chem?" Sakura took an apple off Ino's plate.

"Ugh... we had a sub for chemistry, it was that old fart Takamichi." Ino groaned as she hist her head on the table.

"It wasn't t-too bad Ino." Hinata patted her friend's shoulder.

"Oh but it was, the guy just went on and on about some war instead of giving us a free period." Ino looked up at the brunette "AND! If I remember correctly a certain Hyuuga fell asleep about half through the class."

Sakura gave off a few giggles, it was rare to see a straight A student dozing off in class.

"I-I couldn't help it Ino..." Hinata blushed as she noticed a new face step into the courtyard and took a place under a small cherry blossom tree that was planted last year. "W-Whose t-that?" She stammered, it obvious that she thought the new face was cute. Sakura and Ino found that when Hinata has an interest in a boy her stammering would elevate ever so much.

"That's a good question Hinata, I've never seen anyone with birthmarks like that on his cheeks." She peered over at the blond's whisker.

"That's Naruto Uzumaki, he just transferred here." Sakura spied said guy out of the corner of her eye. "He's in my class."

"Looks like Hinata has a thing for him." The brunette immediately snapped out of her trance that was Naruto and blushed even more. The girls then burst into a fit of giggles.

"Don't forget Kiba now." Ino added in delight, Hinata's blush darkened even more at the mention of that rebellious teen's name.

Naruto looked over to his left ever so slightly at the giggling girls, he grinned and let out a huff at the sight. Soon four other boys approached the group of girl's, A raven haired brooding figure. A stout but sturdy brown haired teen that seemed to pack more muscle than fat. A wild looking teen. And a lazy looking figure.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed in delight as the raven-haired teen wrapped his arms around his girlfriend from behind, the gesture was half-expected considering it was break time. Naruto frowned at the sight, he wasn't sure why he did but he went back to eating his lunch. Something about that whole scene just now bothered him to no avail, it just didn't settle in very well with his nerves.

Soon lunch ended and the masses returned to their perspective classrooms. Naruto waited a bit to give the group he was watching some time before heading to his classroom. He didn't feel like running into the happy couple, why? He just could not come up with a legitimate reason not to do so. Taking casual strides back to the room he spotted a certain classmate waiting on him.

"Hey Naruto, sorry for-"

"It's fine, I've got a decent sense of a direction." The teen quickly interjected as he opened the door for her.

"If you say, but still, sorry for ditching you during lunch and all." Sakura's guilty feeling's for leaving the new kid all by himself on his first day began to etch their selves onto her expression.

"Like I said, it's fine Sakura-san. 'Sides, I went exploring around the campus during break." Naruto lied, her guilty face bugged him a bit, just a little bit.

"Heheheh... I feel a bit better about lunch now." She sighed as she walked into the class room.

"Don't worry about it, really." And the last two periods of the day began.

Naruto was able to tolerate the last two periods, his fifth period teacher looked like some kind of bombshell out of a Playboy magazine, he had a lot of trouble trying to keep his eyes off the red-eyed beauty who taught them algebra. The young rider then ended the day with physical education, currently the class was doing their swimming unit, but Naruto did not receive his PE uniform yet so he sat through the period observing the reason why swim suits are man kinds greatest invention ever.

* * *

"So... what do you think about the Academy?" Naruto was snapped out of his day dreaming as he walked to his locker.

"Ehh... it was alright, could have done without our English teacher, but I'd have to say our math teacher kinda balanced it all out." Naruto's reply earned him a small slap on the shoulder, he faked the pain with a matching expression. "Gah... you brute."

"Oh quit being a baby, you should know better than to check out our teachers." Sakura retorted.

"Your one to talk... it's pretty obvious you gotta thing for our English teacher Sakura-san." Naruto jested once again, this earned him a slightly harder slap on the left shoulder once more. "Geeze Sakura, I'm gonna turn into a cripple at this rate."

"I think you would be more enjoyable as a cripple if you keep up with those remarks of yours." Sakura smirked to herself as she continued to trail Naruto down the hall ways.

A devious grin made it's way to Naruto's face. "I guess it wouldn't be so bad since you'd be liable for me."

"What makes you think I'd be liable for you?" She raised a brow as a ways to challenge his claim.

"Well..." Naruto drawled on "That's why I have the right to sue you of everything you have right down to the clothes on your back Sakura-san."

She giggled at the remark "Oh I think we could work something out if it comes down to it."

"Well, this is my locker. Thanks for showing me around today Sakura-san." Naruto gave a small smile to her.

"No problem Naruto, and please" Sakura started walking away "just call me 'Sakura'" Naruto nodded his head in understanding and opened his locker, the first day at the Academy was an interesting and fun one. He opened his locker and grabbed his bag inside and various other academic related items he would need to complete the day's homework.

As he headed out the main entrance and to the bus stop he saw Sakura and her two friend from earlier that day, the trio had on their leather bike jackets over their clothes. Naruto watched as Sakura and Hinata mount the same bike and Ino on her personal one, 'I'm gonna take a guess and say that the bike belongs to Sakura.' He watched as she switched the engine alive, Ino pulled up next to the pair and before long the Uzumaki spots a group of four bikers pulling up next to the girls.

"The bastard from earlier I'm guessing." The words just slipped out of the whiskered teen's lips, it surprised even him.

And just like that the pack left the school with the new kid left behind with nothing but a frown on his face.

* * *

The street seemed to glow under the stars as the street lights hung low within the Main District of the city, a loan Yamaha Thundercat cruised it's streets as the rider got a feel for the whole city. There was a race going on near the edge of the Red Light District, that district was only about half a mile in radius, but the place had it's name for all the gambling halls and whore houses it had lined up on it's streets.

Fox zipped on past the Tower, it stood in all it's glory as lights shone on the structure from below.

'Fit for a banquet.' He mused as he circled around the block to get the whole view of the place. 'I wonder what the view would be like from the top of that.'

In an instant he felt the force of another rider dash by him, the tail lights glowed as the machine slowed down signaling what both rider's wanted to do. Fox sped up and rode at an even speed next to what he picked out to be a Benelli Cafe 1130 Racer, the black shone under the street lights and all but a simple lone red cloud shone on the gas tank of the motorcycle. The two riders made eyes with each other before a sharp cry from both street bikes erupted through out the Main District.

'Let's see what you've got' The two went neck and neck with each other as they fought for dominance on the straight away, two blocks away there would be a four intersection. The orange rider tried to move in front of the Benelli rider, but it was cut short as his competitor went into the next gear. With a block left on the straight away the red cloud rider signaled for a right turn and Fox lagged behind as he followed the racer.

'I'll get him on the next straight away.' When racing in this style it had an advantage to being in the lead if there were a series of turns.

To Fox's delight it was another straight away that was five blocks long, the raw power of the bikes engines seemed to stir the district as a few lights from the building over head turned on as they flew down the path. Fox already had his signal on for a right turn as he cut ahead of the racer and curved the sharp right turn, the next series of streets were decked with several turns and Fox used his lead to his advantage as he led the dark rider through a confusing loop of turns. He could practical feel himself cut through the cement with each turn as he took the next corner which led him back to the Tower.

However, the Benelli rider knew this as well as he got on the inside of Fox's turn.

"Fuck." The orange rider keeps forgetting that he doesn't have much of a home advantage when it came to street racing in Konoha.

The Benelli peeled off as Naruto high beamed him from behind, admitting his loss. Coming to a halt, Naruto removed his helmet as he watched his first loss in Konoha corner the next right and disappear from his sight.

"I'm loving this place more and more with every race." The blond teen smiled in delight as he checked the time.

3:15 in the morning.

And he had a bus to catch in a few hours.

* * *

_"Next stop, Academy High School."_

Naruto snapped his attention from his PSP as he took note of the bus slowing down for stop. Hastily he tucked the entertainment system into his bag and stepped out the bus. The Academy was across the street and about a block and half away from the stop, the school bell wouldn't ring for another 30 minutes so Naruto took his time walking to the main gates of the school._  
_

Before he could cross the street a Kawasaki ZX6R caught his attention. It had a metallic purple base and the secondary was a metallic silver and the feminine design suited the rider on it. Then to the Uzumaki's surprise, the rider pulled over and flipped up her visor.

"Hey, you're Sakura's friend Naruto." He could feel the rider's eyes size him up as she leaned back on her bike "How do you usually get to school?"

"The bus." Naruto replied as he looked the bike over "Do I know you from some where or something like that?" He raised a brow at the rider.

"Oh yeah, silly me." Ino removed her helmet "I'm Sakura's best friend the beautiful and great Ino Yamanaka." She gave a wink that cause a bit of heat go to Naruto's cheeks. "So where you from anyways?"

"I just transferred here from Suna." The Uzumaki looked around to see if there was anyone else around, he could feel the conversation going somewhere he didn't want to.

"Oh, I've been there once a few years back with my family. Not much out there except for endless roads and the casino's out there." The Yamanaka kept her cool as she let her helmet rest between the handle bar's of the Kawasaki. "So why did you transfer out here? Family reasons? Got tired of the weather?" She took note as Naruto blinked a few times and looked off to the sides a bit.

"I've got some family matters to take care of here." He said quickly as he began to cross the street.

Ino eyed the blond as he began the cross. "Come join us for lunch Uzumaki."

"...Sure thing Ino." Naruto mentally kicked himself for hesitating to confirm her invitation for lunch.

'What ever are you hiding Uzumaki?' Ino grinned to herself at the countless possibilities and reasons as her Kawasaki roared back to life and rode the rest of the way to the parking lot.

'Damn... that Sasuke guy sure is one lucky bastard.' The thought was random and alien to Naruto as he propped himself against a large oak tree near the parking lot. A white Honda pulled up next to where Ino parked her bike, the rider removed her helmet and out came the tussled pink locks with the... appealing emerald eyes? Naruto shook his head and slumped down to the grass at the thought. 'Argh, get it together Uzumaki.' He finally got a hold of himself and looked up just in time to see another bike pull up.

'And of course, the knight in shining armor appears.' The blond frowned as he watched Sasuke dismount his GSXR and greet the two ladies.

Sasuke propped Sakura against her bike so that she was leaning against it when he leaned in for his morning kiss, Naruto turned the other way for this part of the morning. Soon he no longer felt the need to watch what happened in the parking lot, he found the sky suddenly much more interesting. He watched at least two clouds pass by over head before hearing the crunching of grass next to him, it was one of those guys who hung around with Sasuke yesterday.

"You're in my spot." came a blunt greeting. Naruto looked up to see a lazy expression that seemed to be forever etched into his face. His tied hair resembled a pineapple, but Naruto fought back the urge to grin.

"Neh... I don't see your name in this spot." The blond returned his attention to the sky above. He heard a mumble which sounded similar to 'troublesome'. "Well your not the only guy in the world who looks at the clouds you know." was his reply to the incoherent phrase.

"This just so happens to be a very ideal spot for cloud gazing." The pineapple teen took a seat against the trunk of the tree. "The roof is fine in the spring, but in the summer it gets too hot up there."

"Is there any other spot that I should know about?" The guy seemed pretty decent.

"My classroom, room 2-3, where I sit."

"Funny... I was thinking of where I myself sit, class 2-1, as the next best thing." Naruto sat up and leaned back on his hands, his head turned slightly to his new company.

"Guess any window seat in any classroom is the 'next-best-thing'" His company looked to the sky while toying with his keys in his left hand. "Shikamaru Nara."

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Well..." The Nara stood up and pocketed his keys, he sported cargo pants, a white shirt with a green button up that stayed open. "I'll be seeing you around Uzumaki." As is on cue the school bell rang and Naruto started to rush inside, he still needed to visit his locker.

* * *

"Geeze Naruto." Sakura's stern voice was the first thing that flowed into the Naruto's mind as he looked around. "First you're late to homeroom and now your sleeping in class, your starting to remind me of my friend Shikamaru." the lecture continued as Naruto realized that fourth period ended a few minutes ago and that they were the only two in the room.

"S-sorry Sakura, can't help it sometimes." Naruto stretched out his joints a bit before getting up, the teen had a pretty good run the night before.

"Really now, it's only your second day." Sakura began walking out, not noticing the keys that fell out of her jeans. However Naruto did, still a bit groggy he picked them up.

"Ne... Sakura your keys." Naruto tossed them to her in a familiar manner.

She caught them on point, Sakura would be lying if she said she expected the new kid to throw her keys to her rather than hand it to her like most non-racers, no- non-drivers would do. The pink haired teen was now curious about what the blond drove around, but she would save that question for another time when Naruto wasn't half asleep. "Thanks Naruto, now come on, I wanna go." Naruto was half dragged to the cafeteria and was surprisingly forced to sit as they went outside to the courtyard.

"Hey, so glad you can join us Naruto." Ino greeted the two as they came to the table.

Sakura sent a curious glance to both of her blond friends "Wait, what?"

"It's nothing Sakura, just continuing our conversation from this morning. Trying to help Naruto-kun feel welcomed into the school." Ino answered coyly.

"Uh-huh..." Sakura was a bit skeptical, but didn't let Naruto in on what was going on. Ino had a notorious reputation of gathering information, she'd pick up what she could about anyone and everyone so that if the situation should come down to it, Ino would come out on top.

Naruto bit his cheek as he watched the exchange between the two friends. "Come on Naruto, take a seat, I promise I won't let Ino bite you." Sakura patted the empty spot next to her.

"Not much anyways..." Ino added quietly, this cause Sakura to shoot a dirty glance to her blond friend.

"H-hey-" Hinata's gaze quickly caught on to Naruto, she was a bit surprised to see a new blond sitting at their table.

"Hey Hinata, this is Naruto." Sakura ushered her to sit between her and Ino while Naruto sat on the other side.

"Hey Hinata, it's nice to meet you." He offered a grin and received a shy one from her, he was happy that Hinata came along to break the rising mood that began to cause Naruto to feel uncomfortable.

"She's not exactly a very confident person." Ino quickly whispered as her brunette friend paid close attention to the table.

"Oh really now?" Came his sarcastic remark, Ino replied to this by bruising his shin.

"Shiiiieet... no wonder you two are best friends." Naruto muttered as he rubbed his leg.

"OI! Ino! Where's my food?" Shikamaru was walking toward the table with two guys on either side of him.

"You lazy ass, I told you I wasn't going to get you food this week." She huffed in reply.

"Women... you're the one who said you'll get it for me anyways." He muttered, Shikamaru quickly caught sight of the other blond. "Hey, its you from this morning."

"I prefer 'Naruto' over 'you'. After all I'm not Chinese pineapple head." Naruto retorted as he rubbed his shin a bit more in annoyance, it really hurt a lot.

"Oh, so your a comedian now Naruto?" Shikamaru raised a brow.

"Maybe, I've got a thing or two for stand-up." Naruto eyed the two others with Shikamaru, the Nara took notice of this and grinned a bit to set the mood.

"Oh, this is Kiba and Chouji." He pointed them out and took a seat next to the whiskered teen.

"Yo, you can call me either Fang or Kiba, big guy over here will answer to Muscle too." Kiba quickly added "And lazy over there recently took a liking to 'Shadow'."

"What's with the names?" The spiky haired blond looked back and forth from the new faces of guys.

"You mean you don't know?" Kiba raised his voice slightly out of excitement, Shikamaru groaned and Chouji lost interest in the conversation for a bag of chips. "Konoha is known for its night life with the races and everything. After a while you get a sort of ring name for the races you've won. I earned my name Fang after winning 5 races in a row." He huffed in pride.

"Yeah, until Sasuke came around and smoked your ass by a good 20 second finish." Sakura added as she doused the fire that was once Kiba's glory.

"Aww... c'mon Sakura, I was just having fun with the new guy." Kiba whined a little. "Or should I say Dragon Blossom?"

"Shut it Fang." Sakura glared at him.

"Dragon Blossom? Sounds like some kind of ninja move or something." Naruto jested, he gave her a smirk which she knew was vengeance for the day before.

"She got it cause of the good view you would get of her jacket and hair when you cross that finish line racing her." Shikamaru sighed "Fourteen times I've seen that view, I just gave up after that."

"Don't say that Shika." Ino patted his head "It never gets old seeing her whip your ass by a 15 second margin."

"Troublesome..." The poor teen rested his head on the table, unwilling to keep the conversation going.

At that moment Sakura felt a pair of strong arms envelope around her, "Hey Sasuke-kun." she kissed his cheek.

"Hey Sakura." He returned the gesture and his attention turned to Naruto. "Whose this guy?" Sakura opened her mouth to introduce her companion, but the whiskered teen beat her to it.

"'This guy' is right here in front of you." Came Naruto's friendly greeting.

"I was kind of talking to my girlfriend." Sasuke retorted a bit annoyed, he wasn't much of a people person when it came right down to it.

"Well you were talking about me so I assumed I should make it known that I'm right in front of you."

"Because I didn't know who you were." Sasuke's tone turned a bit colder.

"That's why you greet people." Naruto was enjoying this.

"I was busy dope."

"Are you whipped or something teme?" Tensions were beginning to rise. "So anyways... I'm gonna go eat." Naruto got up, Sasuke's glare still on him. "Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto decided to finally come peacefully before he went to go eat.

"Tch... it's Falcon to you." Naruto walked away at the Uchiha's response and rolled his eyes, it somewhat reminded him of the other night, the night where Naruto decided to go out and explore Konoha for a bit during the wee hours of the morning under his own street name.

'Hah... nice to finally meet you face to face Sasuke Uchiha.' Fox mused as he grabbed a sandwich to satisfy his hunger.

* * *

And the list:

Naruto- Yamaha YZF600

Sakura- Honda CBR600

Sasuke- Suzuki GSXR1000

Ino- Kawasaki ZX6R

Suggestions? Comments? Thoughts? Flames?

I'm all ears.

_**-DK3**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Ch. 2 Re-Written**_

* * *

Mrs. Haruno sighed as she saw her daughter leave with her bike gear in hand. Sure she tried to stop this habit that she has developed, but the older Haruno found that the more she tried to stop her the more her daughter wanted to ride. Soon she gave up on trying to stop a passion that flows through her blood. After all he father was a rider himself during his young years, she sighed again at the thought of her husband.

"Kouki... if only..." She muttered to herself as she made her way to the living room after cleaning her kitchen. Soon the familiar rev of an engine made itself known and Mrs. Haruno just flipped on the television, she remembered when her husband used to give her rides on his own bike, but that seemed like centuries ago.

Sakura popped the clutch of her bike and rode into a wheelie, if she were to look back she would have seen many bystanders do a double take as she shot by them. Soon a familiar corner came into view, and after rounding it she spotted a 24-hour convenience store, and there in front of the store was the man who called her out almost every Friday night after they met, Sasuke Uchiha.

"Want some?" Sasuke offered her a bite of his late night snack, a churro. Sakura took off her helmet and stole a bite, Sasuke finished the rest after that.

"Thanks Sasuke." Sakura leaned against her bike and took a deep breathe of the fresh night air, it was intoxicating. "So where are we headed tonight?"

"Chouji said that it's suppose to be at the edge of the red light district this time." Sasuke mounted his bike and its engine roared to life. "C'mon, I wanna do a quick run before we go." Sakura noticed that his shoes had steel plates fastened at the sole.

"Alright, let's take the main roads though, it's a wider street." Sakura tapped a panel at the side of her bike and similar plates were revealed. Placing them on she heard Sasuke ride his beside her, his helmet not on.

"Ready?" Sasuke questioned with his helmet in hand.

Sakura made a final adjustment. "Yeah, let's go." She mounted her bike and revved her engine out of its slumber. She heard Sasuke's rev as well to make a quick U-turn, but as he passed her, his lips met hers. "You could have just asked you know." Sasuke pulled up next to her.

"Heh... where's the fun in that?" He placed his helmet on and Sakura followed the suit after rolling her eyes at her boyfriends antics. Sakura shot out first and Sasuke soon followed. Together they ride side by side until Sasuke decided to get ahead a bit and popped a wheelie, he leveled the tail of his bike to be parallel to the floor, he hopped off still holding on to the clutch and he glided across the road, sparks leaving his trail behind. Sakura matched him, but without the wheelie. She jumped off to the side and skated elegantly on both sides of her bike, Sasuke glided next to his girlfriend still having his bike in the same position.

Sakura shook her head as she felt a smirk emit from his helmet, Sasuke dropped his bike back down and hopped back on simultaneously. Sakura jumped back on her bike a couple minutes after, enjoying the feeling of gliding across the concrete at 70 mph. Sasuke rode slightly ahead of Sakura as the two turned onto a back street that would lead them to the meeting place, only to come to a power slide to stop their mechanical beasts.

There stood the rider from the other night, Sasuke's shadow. Fox stood there, leaning against his bike casually as he found the tribal designs on his machine far more interesting than the arrival of two of Konoha's gifted riders.

"Yo." Fox acknowledged there presences after a good two minutes of silence, Sasuke removed his helmet thinking that the orange rider would do the same.

"Came to race?" Came the greeting from a cool headed Uchiha.

"Believe it." Fox's tone had a hint of amusement in it, to Sasuke's dismay the orange rider kept his helmet on. Falcon watched as the tinted visor shifted it's view to Sakura.

"Like I said Falcon." Sakura took her helmet off "He's mine tonight."

"I'm touched." Fox pretended to wipe a tear from his visor "To think I've got an admirer already." He moved his hand to his chest for the added to effect.

"Pfft. Sorry, but you're just not my type." Sakura huffed, looking off to the side she noticed her boyfriend glaring daggers at the remark of the orange rider.

"Oh right, where's my manners?" Fox mused once again "You may call me Fox." He bowed his head "And what may I call you madame?"

Sakura faked a gag. "The name's Dragon Blossom." She placed her helmet on "You and I are gonna race tonight." Sasuke gave a nod to Sakura and placed his helmet on.

"I'll meet you there, and don't worry, I'll get the race set up by the time you get there." Sasuke gave one last glance at Fox and rode off to the meeting place, Sakura was a big girl and she knew how to take care of herself.

The tinted visor followed the Suzuki's exit and turned his attention back to his opponent. "And what are we gonna race for Dragon Blossom?" Fox mounted his YZF, his gaze still on Sakura. She placed her helmet back on and made the CBR's engine roar in response. The pinkette wasted no time and went straight to the point, he liked that.

'Since when?' Naruto thought to himself as he waited for Sakura's response.

"How about..." Sakura thought for a moment, then it came to her. "We'll race for names then, and you got to show me your face if I win as well."

"Hold on, what about me?" Fox pointed to himself. "I already saw your pretty little features, it be kind of boring racing for something I've already seen." He thought for a moment and interrupted Sakura before she could begin. "How about a date then?" Came the gruff voice once more.

'What the hell did I just say?' Naruto couldn't seem to control his own mouth.

"Hell. No." Came her abrupt reply. Fox kept his cool.

"It's fine, I understand girls like you." Fox revved his engine, Sakura had a puzzled expression under her helmet. "I mean, A- girls can't race for crap B- When it comes bets their scarred as crap for when they lose and C- I had a feeling that a little girl like you was-" Sakura reved her engine loudly and rode her bike next to the orange rider.

"Fine, we'll race under those terms then." Sakura's voice was stern and annoyed, she started to strongly dislike this Fox guy, he struck a chord deep within her and she wanted some pay back. 'I think Sasuke's starting to kind of get to me in a way.' Sakura thought to herself as Fox tailed her to the meeting point.

'I'm outta control.' Naruto just couldn't help but push Sakura into saying yes, something inside Naruto wanted this date with her, that something was Fox.

Just like Sasuke said the race was set up for the two by the time they reached the meeting place. Fox took the liberty to set up first at the start, Sakura followed the suit after waving a greeting to her friends. After the two finished setting up Sasuke walked between the two.

"This is a one lap circuit." He explained with his helmet in hand. "The course is marked by the crowd so it should be pretty obvious where to go." Sasuke finished and walked up to Sakura.

"Kick his ass." Sakura nodded and Sasuke wore his signature smirk.

"I will." Sakura responded. The Uchiha then walked in front of the competitions bike, "Don't cry too hard when she kicks your ass." Fox let loose an unseen grin.

"Ms. Mind Games will be your flagger for this race." Ino in the middle of the starting line and raised her hands below her shoulder.

"Ready." Fox let his engine rev to its fullest, his machine seemed impatient. "Set." Sakura bowed her head, watching Ino's hand intently for its drop. And it did.

The two took off, leaving behind a fine amount of smoke for the bystanders, Sasuke stood there in the side lines with the rest of his friends, anticipating that Sakura will be the winner of this match. Chouji came to the meet in his Yamaha Road Star warrior, he sat upon the cruiser with a radio in hand, the people who marked the course kept those at the finish updated on the race.

_"Dragon Blossom's in the lead, that orange rider is trailing her by about 10 seconds."_ Chouji didn't bother to report this, this race was in the bag.

Sakura kept her eyes focused on the course as the first turn came rushing towards her, lightly she pulled her front brake and held her clutch as she slid into the drift after pulling the rear brake. As soon as she came out of the turn she accelerated her bike as hard as possible and worked around the slightly winding streets with refined cornering techniques. It came to her as no surprise when she noticed how well Fox kept up with her.

'After all, Sasuke wouldn't be so work up over him if he wasn't much of a challenge.' She smirked as went into fifth gear on CBR after breaking the third corner on the course. She barely noticed the crowd passing by with radio's in hand shouting who was ahead of who.

_"This guy is crazy, he's got his apex down almost as well as Falcon's."_

Key word: almost, Sasuke smiled as he knew for sure that Sakura would win this race with no problems.

However, it appeared as though Sakura was not on the same page has her male companions. 'I can't shake this fucker.' She shifted into a higher gear in frustration as she cornered the next turn, the two were coming out of the down town's narrow roads and on to the wider main roads that were lined up with high class restaurants, high end clothing stores, and the like. Taking advantage of being the first one on to the wide street she claimed the inside of the next upcoming turn that would lead to a 8 block straight away to the finish line.

Dragon Blossom felt her heart race as she kept looking back at the light following her, she checked her gauge and watched her speed constantly climb back up to 100's with the next corner in sight. Did she dare to slow down in fear of losing control of her machine during the corner because of it's high speed? The fasted Sakura had ever taken on a corner would have to be at 80 mph, her current speed was now 102 mph and the turn was looming closer and closer. She felt her hand let up on the gas, would she dare to pull her brakes before the corner?

'Do I dare to throw this race because of a little turn?" Sakura shook her head as came to the corner and executed a beautiful drift. 'Yes! I won, I definitely won, there's no way that-' Sakura's thought was cut short as she watched in half amazement and half horror as the Yamaha YZF cornered the turn on the side walk.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Sakura's mind played in slow motion as she watched the bike slide out in front of her and accelerated hard in the middle of the street. Her CBR was barely out of the turn as Fox's bike already darted past 3 blocks, it's destination was none other than the prized finish lined that awaited a different winner that was not Fox.

Shikamaru took note of the wider sidewalk on the main road, 'You still must have some kind of death wish if you're willing to even think about cornering on a sidewalk.' He returned his attention to finish line as he notice the crowd still standing off to the side instead of rushing to winner with cheers and cries of victory. The Nara narrowed his eyes as he notice Fox motion for Sakura to follow him out of the crowd after shouting something at the Sasuke.

"Sakura Haruno." The cherry blossom looked back at the crowd a block away while she and Fox remained out of ear shot "If you spread word about this date I swear that-"

"When and where, Sakura-san?" The gruff but quiet voice reminded her of someone, but she just could not figure out who.

"Next Saturday at the park near the Academy. You choose the time." Came the reply as she sighed in defeat.

"Six. Something casual." Fox answered in the same tone, she couldn't tell if he was really into the date from his tone, but she could not care much. A bet was a bet after all.

The two rode back to the crowd that now clamored with fresh gossip about the new rider that had just beat one of Konoha's top female racers.

"Oi! Orange!" Kiba walked onto the scene. "What's your name?" He stopped within a few feet from the rider.

"Until you beat me, Fox." He gased his engine for show as the crowd murmured about Fox and his YZF. This guy seemed almost as good as Falcon, if not better. But who were they to know, the two haven't raced... yet at least.

"Tch." Sasuke huffed as he eyed the Fox, he couldn't quiet catch what Sakura and Fox were talking about, but he assumed that it was no good, in his case.

"You'll get your chance Uchiha." Shikamaru lit a cigarette and leaned back onto his BMW K1200S, it had a black base with gray designs, at the tail was a circle with a line through it on both sides. Chouji nodded in agreement with his best friend as he leaned forward on his Yamaha. Kiba walked back to the group muttering something about stupid foxes and lightly kicked the back tire of his Ducati 1000DS. Kiba's bike sported his bike was gray with black black designs. On both sides of his bike were red triangles that were parallel to the floor, the base at the front with the point going to the back.

"Damn, can't wait to get my shot at that guy." Kiba eyed Fox as he rode away from the scene. Before Fox left he and Sakura went off to the side and away from sight of her friends.

"I need some numbers you know." Fox got off his bike and stretched out a bit, the playful attitude from before the race had returned, why it went away did not concern the pinkette. Sakura rolled her eyes as her mind processed the request.

"What makes you think I'm gonna give you my phone number?" She questioned haughtily.

"Cause you lost." She felt his grin that she was beginning to hate even thought she herself has never seen it. "That and I wanna make sure that you don't forget about Saturday. Wouldn't want you to suddenly flake out of our deal Sakura-san."

She sighed "Give me your number then, and I'll call you if something comes up." Fox reached for his pocket, but stopped a moment. Sakura raised a brow. "What?"

"Nothing." Fox dropped his hand and walked up to Sakura "I'll just take your word for Saturday then." Fox hopped back on to his bike "Don't disappoint me, Sakura-_chan_." Sakura shivered she couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but something in her told her it felt like a good thing. She watched Fox ride off and sighed again, she was already wishing the week would never end. Dejectedly she headed back to the spot where her friends awaited her.

"S-Sakura... that was a pretty good race." Hinata walked up to her with Ino trailing her.

"Too bad I lost." She sighed, Ino patted her shoulder.

"It's fine Sakura, how were we to know that Fox would have been such a good racer." Ino chimed "Besides, he's probably some ugly otaku who spends all his time masturbating in his room." Sakura cracked into a smile and eventual giggles. Ino was always there for her, except for the Sasuke fiasco, but they managed to work things out and their friendship turned into an even stronger one.

"Glad y-you feel b-better Sakura." Hinata smiled as well, she never did like the way her friends would look when they're sad or depressed, it tore at her a bit to see such distress.

"Thanks girls... I feel like I could kick that guys ass now." Sakura clenched her fist in excitement. "Can't wait to get a rematch." Ino and Hinata smiled at their friends antics, she didn't earn her reputation as one of the Academy's finest riders through nothing.

* * *

Sakura peered over at Naruto, he seemed more distant than Friday, obviously something was on his mind. She reached over and tapped his shoulder, Naruto whipped his head around as he snapped out of his day dreaming.

"S-Sakura." The blond was fairly surprised.

"Something the matter Naruto?" A look of concern came across her.

"Nothing really, just tired is all." He lied. Recently Naruto's thought have been plagued by one thing and one thing only; his date with Sakura that Saturday.

'Shit, why the hell did I have to say that? What's gotten into me lately?' Naruto sighed and noticed his friend's expression. "R-really Sakura-san-"

"Just Sakura, Naruto. I don't really like being called '-san' anymore?" She corrected.

"So I heard about Friday night, a lot of people in class just kept on talking about it." He changed the subject and watched as Sakura sighed in defeat.

"Yea, how I got my ass smoked by that crazy orange punk."

"Don't sweat it Sakura, you've got potential with your skills, that guy probably has more experience than you." It was 2 years more of experience to be exact. Naruto began riding when he was fourteen while he was living in Suna, he got his red-headed friend addicted to riding as well soon after he learned how to ride a motorcycle. Since then the two spent late night's with high school riders that taught the two what they needed to know, and being careful not to get caught.

"Thanks Naruto, that means something to me." Sakura smiled at the blond, who gave the same smile back. Oh how they both enjoyed the happy expressions of each other, even though they both try to deny such feelings.

The first four periods began, it was uneventful as usual even though two certain classmates would steal glances at each other every five minutes. The bell for lunch rang and the class hurriedly cleared the classroom. Naruto and Sakura walked together to the lunch line and ordered lunch for themselves.

"So how long have you been racing?" Naruto questioned out of curiosity.

"Mmm... I started back in September, Sasuke offered to teach me." Sakura answered as she took her seat.

"When did you get your license?" He continued.

"I got it in March as a birthday gift from my mom." She wore a rebellious expression and Naruto chuckled. "What about you Naruto? How do you get around?" It was Sakura's turn to ask questions.

"The bus, it goes from 0-30 in about a minute and gets you anywhere in Konoha for about a buck." He joked. Sakura broke into a small giggle.

"A regular racer I see." She added in amusement. "Have you ever thought about getting a bike? They're really fun."

"Really now?" Naruto pretended to take a new interest in bike's.

"Mmhmm." Sakura nodded "They don't take up much gas and get you anywhere pretty fast, and parking it isn't all that hard either." He noticed the way her eyes lit up when the topic came up.

'You don't even know.' Naruto wore a smug grin and listened to Sakura go on. "They're that great huh? You're gonna have to take me someday then, I've never rode one myself you know."

"Really? You've never rode a bike before?" Ino and Hinata took a seat at the table "I thought you would have at least rode once before Naruto." Ino finished as she bit into her apple.

"Well, in Suna there was a race scene out there." Naruto took an interest in the apple on his tray and picked it up

"Have you gone to any of the meets?" Ino asked as put down her apple.

Naruto looked up at Ino, he could see it in her eyes that she wanted something out of him "Not really."

"You'd think you would go to a lot of those since Suna's basically all road when you think about it. Just desert, sand, and lots of roads." There was something about the way she drawled out her sentence that made Naruto tense up in frustration.

'Yea, I get it. Suna's in the middle of no where.' The whiskered teen had the urge to let out a tense sigh, but he held it back because he could feel her stare on him. "Suna is surrounded by a lot of mountains too, pretty interesting climbs to the top."

"Didn't Neji have a race out in Suna like a month ago?" Sakura quickly added, she glared at Ino for a bit and in return the Yamanaka shot her back with a look of her own.

"Oh, y-yes he did." Hinata sipped a bit of her soda "He really liked it out there because of the mountain roads, but he said that the ride there on your bike is a bit tolling on yourself."

"Whose Neji?" Naruto inquired, 'I get the feeling that I was there when he came out.'

"Neji is my c-cousin." Hinata explained "He has a Yamaha like that F-Fox guy, except his has an R6." Naruto raised and eyebrow, he's only raced about one R6 in his racing career... and that was a month ago.

"Does he go here?" Naruto questioned, taking an interest in the Neji character.

"N-no." she answered quietly "He goes to ANBU Heights, it's the school across town." The blond nodded as he took in the information, the Heights was a slightly newer school than the Academy, not to mention a bit more prestigious since it was a private school.

"I see..." Hinata noticed the calculative look Naruto wore, but it quickly went away as he took note of Ino looking at him. "Y-yea?"

"Nothing." Ino went back to talking to Sakura.

Sasuke didn't show up at lunch that day, apparently he had club activities on Monday and Tuesday during the lunch break. Ino explained to him that Sasuke was the vice-president of the school counsel.

The last two periods of the day soon came, they had a sub for math that day so Naruto didn't feel to hyped up about the class. Sakura saw this and giggled at his sudden disinterest in the subject. Then came PE, and with swimming as your current subject who could say that the class was uneventful.

Naruto watched as the female roster came out in their school issued one pieces that hugged every curved on their body. This made the speedo suit that the school made all the male wear a bit more tolerable.

"Alright listen up, we're gonna do diving practice. Guys your up first. Go!" Their eccentric teacher with the beard explained. Soon a row of 8 guys from the class lined up at the edge of the pool and awaited the whistle. It came and another 8 guys came along, soon it was Naruto's turn and he too dove in quiet easily. He went to school in Wave when he was smaller so he got more than enough swimming experience over there.

While the guys did their exercise Sakura and her classmate watched them.

"Ehhhmm... I'd give Takashi an 8." Sakura's classmate, Ayame rated. Sakura nodded her head in agreement, there were a few guys whose abs interested her, mainly because some were short 2-packs, but by that time next year if they still kept going at it maybe they'll get that extra 2.

"Oh damn." Ayame pointed "The new kid, look at him." Sakura followed Ayame's finger, sure enough the blond was packing 6, it was pretty defined and toned. By then a couple other girls began to set their sights on the new kid as he pulled himself out of the pool, the Haruno almost dropped her jaw as she watched the droplets of water falling off his skin.

"I-It's alright. I mean Sasuke's is more defined and everything." Sakura managed out, it was the truth after all, at least she thought so.

"Well Sasuke isn't here right now, and he definitely deserves a 10." Ayame exclaimed with enthusiasm as her eyes followed the blond. "What's his name again?"

"Naruto." Sakura replied.

A sharp whistle interrupted the flow of the conversation "Line up ladies! It's your turn." Asuma, the P.E. teacher called the girls to attention as he blew his whistle again for them to start diving in.

Naruto sat near Takashi and a few other class mates as they waited for the girls to finish up.

"Mmmm... I give Ayame a solid 9." Takashi watched her figure dive gracefully into the water.

"Then whose the 10?" Another classmate chimed in as several more splashes were heard.

"Sakura's the 10." Takashi replied. "If Sasuke wasn't with her I'd definitely tap that." Naruto twitched at the thought and simple sat on the ground waiting for the activity to end.

"Man... if only that Hinata chick was in this class, her body's just so..." The guy Takashi was talking too just could not find the words to describe Hinata.

"Mature?" Takashi offered and his companion nodded his head in agreement. "Then there's Ino, she's a feisty one for sure." He went on as he thought of the busty blond.

"I know what you mean." Naruto twitched once more, sure there was a whole lot of truth in the statement, but he didn't feel like admitting it. So instead he detested the fact.

"New guy, what do you think?" Takashi called to him, breaking his thoughts "Sakura or Ino? Which one do you think is bigger?"

"If anything, I'd have to say your mom looks pretty good in a one piece." Naruto replied feigning the lack of interest.

"What?" Takashi gave a fierce look at the blond while their classmates exploded with laughter.

"Well, you asked what I thought." Naruto to chuckle a bit as the laughter from his classmates became a contagious.

The familiar sharp whistle noise was only two feet away from the guys as Asuma stood over the boys "Something I should know?" The boys shook their heads as the Sarutobi raise a brow at the boys. Asuma shook his head and turned his attention to the rest of the class. "For the next 15 minutes you can have a free swim." The bearded Sensei explained, "But no one gets out until I send you in, if someone gets out we'll do laps tomorrow as punishment. That's all." The Sensei watched as the boys jumped back into the pool causing several girls to shriek at the water suddenly exploding in their faces.

"Boys." Sakura rolled her eyes and swam around the pool, Naruto caught her eye once more while he floated on his back. "Naruto!" She called out, the blond teen looked at her, still on his back.

"Hey Sakura." He greeted, "So... I've got a question for you." The tone in his voice sounded a bit off, but his pink haired companion shrugged it off.

"Shoot." Sakura responded, a bit interested in the question.

"Between you and Ino, whose got the bigger rack?" A mischievous fox-like grin claimed his expression while Sakura stood there stunned.

"You know what?" Her voiced threatened, the grin shrunk back as he noticed certain death coming from her eyes.

'Okaaay... maybe that was a bad idea.' Naruto thought as he watched her come closer to him, a bit frightened as to what might become of him. As soon as she was within 6 inches of the boy she merely splashed water into his face.

"Bleh... hate the taste of pool water." Naruto splashed her back, Sakura giggled as she ducked into the water, dodging her whiskered friends attempted counter. As soon as she resurfaced for air she was then met with a huge splash produced by the blond, Sakura retaliated by tackling him.

"Cheater!" Naruto struggled for a grasp unto his pink companion, he wasn't gonna go down without a fight now. He wriggled an arm free and pulled back one of Sakura's shoulder straps to her one piece, he let it loose and heard the satisfying snap and yelp coming from a certain Haruno.

"Naruto!" Her voice shrieked as she rubbed her shoulder, Naruto began to let loose a contagious laughter and soon Sakura found her self laughing too.

"Whatever it takes Sakura." He teased, Sakura lightly slapped his chest and he splashed her back in response. The two engaged into another water fight, this timed Naruto took the offensive and tackled his pink companion. Together they both went under, it was only then that they realized the close proximity both their faces were. His lips were a scant inch from her own, and her heart was about a beat off after discovering just how incredibly his eyes were.

'What's this... feeling?' Naruto resurfaced and noticed the class starting to get out, it seemed as if that no one noticed what happened between the two. Sakura quickly left him to follow the class, leaving him in a bit of daze as he lagged behind everyone else.

* * *

For the next two days at school, Naruto and Sakura avoided each other. Lunch became a bit awkward when Tuesday came around, so Naruto excused himself from the group and wen toff on his own around the school.

Wednesday came, but Sasuke was there so Naruto didn't even bother going any where near the racers and went off on his own once more.

"What's up with Naruto? Why doesn't he come eat lunch here?" Shikamaru took note as he watched said teen leave the cafeteria alone.

"He just wants to see the school more, he gets lost at times when coming from the gym to the class room." Sakura explained as she made room for Sasuke to sit down "Hey, how was class?" She greeted.

"Boring." Sasuke replied quickly "So that dobe has been coming around here?"

"So defensive, you jealous that the new kid is hanging around here Falcon_-kun_?" Kiba was quick to tease as he came out of nowhere and took a seat next to Chouji.

"Not even." Sakura could feel the Uchiha's arm snake around her waist and pull her closer as her boyfriend said that. She smiled to her self and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Even though he gets to spend class all day with _the_ Sakura Haruno?" Chouji broke into a grin as Kiba teased the raven teen more.

"Oh stop it guys, Sasuke's blushing now." Shikamaru lazily let in as he propped his head on on arm.

Sasuke sent a death glare to the boys who could only laugh harder in response. Sakura, on the other hand, let her eyes down cast a bit as she thought of the whiskered teen.

Of course, Ino Yamanaka her self had witnessed the whole thing.

* * *

Soon Thursday came around, Naruto was slowly sinking into a new routine. Wake up, leave, do something for a while and go to homeroom which was at 8. He would then spend his first period listening to his History teacher, his second was English, third would be Science, and fourth was Japanese. Lunch would be spent outside with Sakura, Sasuke, Ino, Hinata, Chouji, Shikamaru, and Kiba. It was through this period of time that Naruto would get to know his new friends a little bit better, the only thing was that Sasuke and him just could not find any solid ground between each other. This led to the two agreeing to a mutual peace between the two, it was a 'You don't talk to me, I don't talk to you.' kind of peace. The blond's fifth and sixth period consisted of Math and followed by PE.

Now since it was the end of the day Naruto would usually head on back to the warehouse after he would watch Sakura and the others take off on their bikes. Though, instead of taking a jog around the line of warehouses and doing his other scheduled activities, Naruto walked up to his most beloved possession.

His Yamaha YZF600.

Taking his time, he looked over the integrity of the bike and wiped it down real quick with a cloth. The rider smiled to himself as he climber out of the docking pit to grab his jacket and helmet.

Within seconds the bike shot out of the closing entrance and down the aisle of warehouses which then led onto the main roads.

At cruising speeds he followed the same route to school, but when he came to the intersection that would lead to the Academy if you turned left he went in the opposite direction of the school and began heading to another district of Konoha. He passed the Senju Jr. High School and received some head turns as he rode on past the students. Soon he turned into a neighborhood that was near by and turned once more in front of a two story home.

"Jii-san! Naruto's here!" A middle schooler who stood in front of the home called out. Naruto shed his helmet after parking his bike in the drive way.

"Hey Boss!" Came an enthusiastic reply from the same middle schooler.

"Hey Konohamaru, long time no see." Naruto patted his hair and earned a scowl.

"Dammit Boss." Konohamaru exclaimed "It's been about a year since you last visited, you're suppose to teach me how to ride like you soon you know."

"Hehe, I just got here about two weeks ago Konohamaru." Naruto explained sheepishly "Besides, I'm gonna be staying in Konoha for a while now." Konohamaru broke into a wide smile as an elderly man came out.

"Naruto... did you find that place to your liking?" he questioned as he took a seat on the porch step.

"Yeah, I did..." Naruto placed his helmet on the bike and took a seat next to the old man. "Thanks a lot Sarutobi-jii-jii, I can't believe you still watched over that place." The blond was referring to the warehouse that he was using as his new home.

"Well... that warehouse was one of your father's prized places. That's where they conceived you-" The old man was cut off by gagging noises.

"That's just too much old man, I didn't need to know that." Naruto shuddered, soon he wore a serious expression. "So... I'm in the clear now, right?"

Sarutobi nodded, "Yes, for now anyways. That man left Konoha a few years back supposedly, but we kept you away from here a bit longer just in case." The old man explained, Naruto clenched his fist.

"That man... he's the reason why I don't have a mother and father anymore." He gritted his teeth at the thought.

"Naruto... your 16 now, it's been a decade since then. You need to learn how to let go... Your father would have wanted that." He soothed, Naruto turned the other way.

"I-I can't help it ji-san" Naruto struggled to keep his voice a bit "I'll never be able to forget that night..."

"You need to move on Naruto, there's no use in dwelling in the past." Sarutobi got up and patted the blond's shoulder "The past has made you what you are today, a fine young man who unfortunately has followed in his father's foot steps." Naruto cracked into a grin and let out his frustration in a long sigh.

"It's your fault for starting this Hokage business in the first place." Naruto retaliated as he got up. The grandfather-like figure sighed and began to reminisce on his youthful days.

"Aah... it seems like only yesterday that I was spouting nonsense such as 'The best rider in Konoha shall be given the title of Hokage! And that rider shall be me!'" He chuckled at the thought "Who would have thought that such simply words would have created a running legacy?"

"C'mon now Jii-san, all the kids at the middle school say that your the Father of Konoha's night life." Konohamaru joined the two at the porch steps. "They say that you will be remembered for generations to come as Konoha's first Hokage."

"Yea Jii-san, listen to your grandson, there will be plenty of people crying over you when you finally kick the bucket." Naruto joked, he and Konohamaru burst into laughter as the old Hokage sighed, his bike was long gone, much like his youth.

"Alright you two, I'm going back in." Sarutobi let out a chuckle. "Konohamaru... your parents are coming home late today." and with that he went back in as he let the hidden meaning of his words linger in the air a bit longer.

Konohamaru then faced Naruto with a grin similar to that of a five year old getting a brand new toy, Naruto chuckled and shook his head.

"Okay, I'll teach you today." Konohamaru yelped in joy and raced inside to open the garage. There stood a stock colored green, blue, and white 1994 Kawasaki ZXR400, Konohamaru began to fasten a silver open face helmet with a tinted visor.

"Alright then... what do you remember from last time Konohamaru?" Naruto questioned as he steadied the middle schooler on the bike.

"You shift gears on the bike by feeling for the clutch" Konohamaru squeezed the left handle on the bike "and pushing the pedal up or down."

"And what kind of shifting does this bike use?" Naruto questioned, Konohamaru thought for a moment.

"This bike is a GP shift, so you push up to get into first gear while the rest of the gears you just push down." He recited.

"Good, you remember how to start up?" His apprentice nodded his head excitedly as Naruto walked to his bike. "Hehe... good, I'm gonna show you how to steer today." Naruto U-turned in the driveway and rode out into the middle of the deserted neighborhood street, Konohamaru turned the engine on and steadily went down the driveway.

"So it's the same concept as a bicycle." Naruto demonstrated with his visor up how to turn, Konohamaru mimed his teacher but suddenly he felt his bike tilting too much to the side. Fortunately, Naruto had dismounted his YZF before Konohamaru started to practice turns and caught the middle schooler and the bike before it ate the cement.

"T-Thanks Naruto." Konohamaru let out a sigh of relief and got back on the bike.

"No problem, just take it easy when you lean into the turn. You don't have to lean in all the way, just find that balancing point when you turn." Naruto stepped back and watched as Konohamaru took his advice to heart and began to ride in circles, after 10 minutes of that he went into figure 8's. "Good, good." Naruto got back on his bike "Now watch my figure 8."

With that Konohamaru hung back as he heard Naruto's engine ignite, the student watched as his teacher did figure 8's with his bike so low to do the ground that his knee was about to scrape the cement.

"That's amazing Boss!" The young Sarutobi exclaimed

"You think you got it now Konohamaru?" Naruto pulled up next to the ZXR.

"I think I got it down Boss." Konohamaru began riding in a circle, Naruto grinned and flipped his visor down.

"Alright, let's go for a spin then." Naruto rode at 30 mph, and Konohamaru followed him. It was a easy ride that was meant for Konohamaru to get a feel of what it's like to turn on a bike, together they rounded the block about once and stopped in front of the house.

"That was pretty fun." Konohamaru exclaimed, he was enjoying the rush of riding.

"Wait until I teach you how to corner, like I did with those figure 8's earlier." Naruto looked around and grin appeared under his helmet, "Alright, let's go for a spin around the district." The Uzumaki peeled out from the front of the house, but slowed down as a means for his student to catch up.

"Now your talking." Konohamaru gassed up his bike's engine in compliance and took off after the orange rider.

Konohamaru couldn't help the smile that was creeping on to his face as he watched his school whiz by from the corner of his eye. The young Sarutobi had his sights fixed on the orange rider ahead of him as they both sped up to 50mp.

'Boss is holding back... but I don't blame him, it's starting to get kind of scary.' Konohamaru glanced down at his gauges as he tightened his grip on the bike's handle, he couldn't tell if it was from excitement or that small bit of fear in his gut, he was much too absorbed in keeping up with Naruto to tell the difference.

Teacher and student rode through several parts of Konohamaru's district before heading back to the Sarutobi residence.

"Haha, that was awesome Boss!" Konohamaru exclaimed as he parked the bike back into the garage and placed the helmet back where he found it.

"Glad you didn't wimp out too bad when we went out on the straight away home." Naruto complimented as Konohamaru sent him a smile.

"Hell yeah! I can't wait until I'm 16 now Boss!" The eighth grader jumped about impatiently, he then looked at the clock in the garage, it read 7 o'clock "Damn, I barely made it, my parents are gonna be home soon." He let out a sigh of relief.

"I know, time flies when your having fun." Naruto fed gas to his engine as he turned his bike around on the driveway. "Well... I gotta get back, I'll see you next Thursday Konohamaru."

"Can't wait until then Boss!" Konohamaru waved to his brother figure as he shot down at speeds that seemed unattainable to the Jr. High student. "One day... I'll become Hokage." Thought the young man, only fourteen and he was addicted to the world called street racing.

* * *

Naruto- Yamaha YZF600

Sakura- Honda CBR600

Sasuke- Suzuki GSXR1000

Ino- Kawasaki ZX6R

Shikamaru- BMW K1200S

Kiba- Ducati 1000DS

Chouji- Yamaha Road Star Warrior

Konohamaru- 1994 Kawasaki ZXR 400

I know the changes are small in the first few, but they are key to what I have planned out.

**_-DK3_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Ch. 3 Re-Written**_

* * *

'Damn... it's Saturday.' Sakura thought as she rose out of bed, Fox was a no-show for the meet the night before which led to Kiba calling the guy a wuss and other things that fell into that category. Sasuke kept an indifferent facade at the fact his new rival did not come the whole night, a few brave ones, or stupid ones, ended up coming to the Uchiha for a race, Sasuke smoked all of their asses by a good 20-30 second margin as a way to vent his frustration. This showed those who thought Sasuke was slipping because of that Fox otherwise.

Sakura to had her share of races from the ones who thought she was now beatable. Before Fox had come along, Sakura had a long winning streak and that shed off a lot of competitors in thoughts that they did not stand a chance to her record. Since Fox had shattered that unspoken record, other riders thought that she wasn't as unchallengeable as before so she enjoyed the night suddenly racing 9 different people instead of one or two. Sakura knew that a lot of her friends had work on Saturday, this was to help pay off the costs of gas and other personal expenses, she and Kiba usually have work together at a clothing store on Sundays at the mall. Sasuke didn't work, and neither did Hinata, this was mainly due to the fact that both come from a prestigious and wealthy family.

'Lucky asses.' Sakura thought to herself as she hopped into the shower, 'This date is probably gonna be a bust...' She began to lather soap onto herself when another thought crossed her mind. 'Wait... I might get a chance to see who Fox really is today.'

It was a genius thought that brought a clever smile to the Haruno's face.

* * *

In a certain warehouse another teen began to stress about the same date that would happen in a few hours.

'SHIT! She might figure out who I am today.' Naruto thought as he went about looking for a good disguise, 'I'm such a fucking genius. I want a fucking date with this chick as a prize for winning the race'

"Argh!" Naruto ran his hand through his hair several time in frustration, if others had seen him do so it would probably make them think he was about to go bald.

It was now four in the afternoon and Naruto needed something to cover his face, he tried the sunglasses but his birthmarks were too noticeable and he knew that Sakura would notice it right off the bat.

"Dammit..." Naruto began pacing about the warehouse before coming across a white mask sticking out of a box labeled 'Junk'. It was a white porcelain mask with a fox face on it. 'Oh yea, my old Halloween costume.' Naruto looked over the fox mask, it covered his cheeks and eyes, only his mouth area was exposed when he put it on.

"Perfect." Naruto then set out in loose jeans, white v-neck, his black leather jacket with the orange design in back, and his bag containing a little something that went perfectly with the rendezvous with Sakura.

Sakura was at the park first before her mysterious date, she wore black bicycle shorts and white skirt over it, she had on a plain pink shirt and her white bike jacket on. She looked at the time, it was 5:58.

'He should be here soon.' The pinkette sighed, she didn't tell a soul about her date with Fox today, and she was feeling a bit guilty about it 'A bit? This is like cheating on Sasuke practically.' She exclaimed in her head, it was practically a date, practically. 'You'd think that he'd be a gentleman and show up before me.' Sakura rolled her eyes at the thought.

Soon the familiar YZF rolled into view and came up next to Sakura.

"Ready?" It was the same gruff voice from last week.

"As I'll ever be." Sakura sighed as she mounted her bike.

"Follow me, we're going on a picnic." Fox instructed as she let her beast spring to life.

"Whatever you say." Sakura sighed again, it was true when they say happiness escapes you with each sigh, Sakura Haruno was starting to detest the whole deal as she followed the mystery man.

'Hope I don't screw things up...' Naruto was a bit nervous, but as Fox he just wouldn't show it. As Fox, Naruto was able to be who he wanted to be, to express what he wanted to express. To allow his heart to be true, even though Naruto himself didn't really notice.

Sakura got a pretty good view of Fox's leather jacket as she trailed him to their destination. His jacket bore an orange spiral in the back, she was curious if the spiral stood for anything, like Sasuke's fan, Kiba's paint job, and Shikamaru's logo. Sakura began to notice now that they were now riding near the out skirts of town and heading to what seemed to be the top of monument which held the founding father's of Konoha faces. In other words, a bunch of dead important guys that Sakura would need to remember for her test in history which would be that up coming Tuesday.

As the road began to wind up the incline, she watched as Fox worked his own magic as he used an apex turning technique and carved through the zig-zag as if it didn't exist. Sakura refused to be shown up as she imitated the orange rider, though in her perspective she did it much better. As if to respond to her challenge, Fox cornered the next uphill incline by leaning his bike into the turn all the way, which was unnecessary if you didn't mind losing your speed and momentum. Dragon Blossom merely gassed her Honda and took the turn at a higher speed which caught her up to Fox where she then opted to ride side by side with him.

'Competitive like the big boys.' Fox thought as he shot ahead of his companion through the next zig-zag, Sakura merely mimed his actions but took it a step further as she over passed Fox on the next corner.

This escalated into a high speed competition of who could out do who as the two bikes seemed to dance together on the mountainous road, Fox had a huge grin underneath his helmet that managed to emit itself as Dragon Blossom wore the contagious smile as well.

The sky was beginning to be tinted with hints of orange by the time Fox stopped his bike. The two were now on the top of the monument which over looked all of Konoha. Sakura looked over the place with nostalgia, the last time she came up to this very spot was with her father.

**Flashback:**

_Sakura Haruno held on tight to her father as he rounded the steep roads to the top of the Monument, she wore his helmet while her father enjoyed the feel of the wind through his face. Her mother awaited for them in the Shopping district while Kouki decided to take Sakura with him to kill time while they awaited for Mrs. Haruno to finish her important business. _

_"Are we almost there Papa?" Sakura turned her head a bit so that she could catch a glimpse of her father, but the helmet cut out that part of her vision so that all she saw was how big of a drop the road was. Quickly the small child put her eyes forward before she let her nerves get the better of her and she tightened her grip on her father's arm._

_"Almost Kura-chin, don't worry; Papa's got you. I won't let anything happen to you" Kouki Haruno dropped his left hand to his daughter's shoulder in comfort, it was through this gesture that Sakura could feel her father's smile emit from behind her. _

_With the assurance of her beloved father, Sakura took a deep breathe and looked out to the side again, this time she couldn't take notice of how far up they were. Instead it was the view that made her eyes go wide as she saw how perfectly the forest seemed to frame Konoha and how her building's failed to reach higher than the Konoha Monument. The land that kept this wonder city glimmered with gold as the gentle orange sunset set the fierce spring skies a blaze._

_Kouki gently brought his bike to a halt, carefully he put the stand down and lifted his daughter off the machine. Sakura began to unfasten the helmet herself as she noticed her father taking a knee to get it off for her, Kouki smiled as he watched his Kura-chin take the helmet off herself. Carefully the older Haruno led her closer to the edge of the Monument, taking care that no incident will rob him of his precious blood.  
_

_"What do you think Sakura?" Kouki plopped down to the ground while Sakura remained standing with her mouth agape. _

_"I-It's so cool!" She squealed in delight "It's pretty- no wait, better than pretty! It's prettier then pretty, it's... it's..." The five year old girl struggled to find the right word and soon a pout replaced the joyous smile. _

_"Beautiful?" Kouki offered._

_"Mhm!" Sakura's smile came back once more as she looked out at the view "It's beautiful Papa! Like Mama!" Kouki chuckled at youth's innocence. _

_"One day you'll be beautiful like Mama" With swiftness, he grabbed hold of his daughter and set her on his shoulders which cause the young Sakura to squeal in delight as she ran her hands through her father's coarse hair. "But for now, you're my pretty Princess." _

_"And you're my big and strong and smart and taaaall and strong and incredible Papa!" Kouki watched in amusement as Sakura's hands flailed about with what she was talking about. _

_"Papa loves you Kura-chin." The older Haruno felt a small kiss planted on top his head as he said this. _

_"Kura-chin loves Papa too!" _

**End**** Flashback**_  
_

Sakura took a deep breathe before she could let her emotions wrap it's solemn grip on her. She could feel her face heat up a bit, but it is thanks to cool breeze the mountain offered that it would settle down.

'Kami... it feels like that happened in a different life time now.' The Haruno traced her sights to where her father and a younger Sakura once stood as they watched the sunset fade into darkness.

"It's a great view." Sakura whipped her head around as she heard the gruff voice no longer muffled by a helmet, this was her chance to finally see who rode behind the guise of Fox. There stood Fox, in a porcelain mask which concealed his face, save for his mouth.

The rose colored teen sighed as she missed her chance while thinking of a treasured memory.

"Halloween passed a long time ago." Sakura retorted in an annoyance to shield what she truly thought at the moment, and that was Kouki Haruno.

"And yet people still wear masks everyday." Fox took off his backpack, the comment genuinely took his companion off guard.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Sakura raised a brow as she watched him pull out a bento, two cans of soda, a blanket, and a small mp3 set. Fox left his iPod plugged into the set as the speaker's played what ever was on the play list, Sakura did not pay much attention to this.

"Everyone has something to hide, so they wear a mask. They hide what they really feel with obnoxiousness, boredom, annoyance, and so on." Fox spread out the blanket and took a seat on it, Sakura opted for standing as she watched him open the bento, revealing some assorted sushi rolls. "C'mon now Sakura, I don't bite." Fox wore a friendly grin as he patted to the ground next to him.

"So no outing in town?" She kept her distance from the masked man as she took a seat as far away as possible while still remaining on the blanket. He had a gray beanie on as well that kept his hair out of sight, although she could spot his blond side burns sticking out from under the disguise.

"Nah, it'd be a bit awkward for me to walk around with this mask on in public." Naruto replied as he ate some sushi, "Try some, it's not that bad Sakura." He held out the bento with a smile that seemed genuine to the Haruno.

"...Fine." Sakura reluctantly took a roll, she hid her surprise when she tasted the morsel of food, it tasted as if it were made by a sushi chef at a restaurant. It was determination that she kept the same monotonous expression as she swallowed the tasty roll.

"Well Sakura... at least tell me if you like it or not." Fox sighed as he ate another roll "I'd appreciate any compliments you know." The whiskered host watched as she reached for another roll. "Oh? So it's good then?" he mused as he pulled the box out of her reach.

"It's decent, okay?" Sakura reached over for the bento, but the rider kept up this game of keep away. He let out a chuckle before finally letting Sakura have some more, unknowingly she began to smile during their little game.

'She's... kinda... well, cute.' A certain blond finally admitted as she saw how her eyes sparkled in delight.

"So... does that Falcon guy cook for you?" He questioned out of curiosity as the two continued eating.

"Not really, Sasuke takes me out to eat at Konoha's finest restaurants." Sakura answered as she reached for another sushi roll.

"I see... " Fox took a roll that Sakura was about to reach for, she glared at him while he merely smiled back at her in playful delight "Uchiha right? So his brother must be _the_ Itachi Uchiha?"

"Yeah," Sakura felt comfortable with the subject of Sasuke, anything that had to do with Sasuke she felt very comfortable with. "Itachi is pretty famous for being one of the youngest owner of such a successful Security Firm."

"He's good with that Private Military Firm of his, a lot of other companies always want his men as bodyguards." Fox nodded his head in agreement.

"Sasuke prefers Security Firm."

"Just because it sounds more 'friendly'?" Another grin, Sakura kept her temper in check.

"Anyways..." Sakura sighed and finally took the time to look over her date, now that she thought about it he didn't seem much older than her. "So... are you a high schooler?"

"I'm sixteen, my birthday is in October." He answered.

Sakura furrowed her brows in frustration. "Do you go to the Academy?" She tried once again. The masked man flashed her a fox-like grin that seemed vaguely familiar.

"Just because I'm sixteen doesn't mean that I'm in school Sakura." Sakura sighed, at least she knew his age.

"Just call me Sakura." She told him as she reached for the bento, there was no more sushi left as the two ate it all over that 30 minute duration.

"Didn't notice that." Fox tapped the empty bento before putting it away, he picked up the two soda's and handed one to his companion. "So when's your birthday?" He looked out at Konoha and then at her.

"It's in March on the 28th." Sakura answered smoothly, even though he wore a mask, the guy was pretty easy to talk to.

"Haru no Sakura..." The masked rider chuckled at the thought. "How original." His chuckles wore on before Sakura slapped his arm. "You brute, I'm not gonna be able to ride anymore if you keep that up." He rubbed his left arm.

"Oh stop being a baby." Sakura hit his arm once more before taking a sip from her drink. The phrase reminded her of something, she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Honestly, I don't know what that Sasuke guy see's in you. To me your just some violent person who hurts people that do good things for her." Naruto mused with a silly grin.

"Sasuke thinks I'm a great girl with a lot of character thank you very much." She pouted and Naruto's grin turned into a chuckle.

'I think you're the best girl ever.' Naruto faltered as the thought crossed his mind, quickly he shook his head as a means to avoid the thought.

"You okay?" Sakura was a bit curious as she saw the way the usually confident rider seemed a bit uneasy.

Fox nodded "Yea, just remembered something..." He coughed "So Sakura..."

"Yeah?" Sakura brought her legs to her chest and looked out at the view.

"What got you into street racing?" Fox began to lay down all the way as he awaited a response.

"Mmm... Sasuke did actually." She began as she looked down at her companion "I've known Sasuke since elementary school, the same with most of the people I hang out with at school too. Though when we got into Senju Jr. High, that's when I kind of noticed Sasuke in that way." Fox nodded as he waited the rest of her story. "Then things happened, I almost lost my best friend because we were both into the guy, but thankfully we worked it out. Then after that Sasuke and I became official when we entered our Freshman year at the Academy."

"When was the first time you got on a street bike?" The light turned fierce as it sank into the horizon.

"While I was five, my dad was into the whole street racing thing as well." Sakura looked a bit down as she mention her father, but her date's sharp eyes managed to catch this.

"What happened to your father?" The voice was genuine in its tone.

Dragon Blossom took a deep breathe "He died on the job, he worked for the same Private Military Company that Sasuke's family owns." The long silence cause Naruto not want to continue on the subject

"What about you?" Sakura questioned. "What got you started in street racing?"

"There used to be this guy that would take care of me when I was 7, he is a well respected racer to this day." Naruto smiled fondly as he recalled the many hard times he has been through with his caretaker "He kept my interest sparked in these things and it has carried on with me even after I was left in Suna so that I could get on with middle school and then high school. But it's also because of that same guy that I almost killed myself with my best friend trying to imitate or figure out some of his techniques that he used on his bike." Fox shook his head "I almost hit a car straight on while practicing my downhill apex turning... and this has happened several times and I swear that each one gets more scarier than the last."

Sakura went into a fit of giggles as she noticed how you can tell what Fox felt by the way his lips moved "I'm surprised you're not crippled."

"If you knew everything I did you'd be surprise that I'm still alive and kickin" Sakura just shook her head and muttered something about boys.

"Of course" Sakura tucked in her legs as Fox stretched out a bit and looked out as the last of the sun's now gentle rays seeps into the darkness. The two have been up on top of the monument for some time already. Sakura watched in amazement as the night life of Konoha sprang to life, street light's glowed with a fireflies spirit, and the building lights dressed the city in diamonds.

Sakura proceeded to get up and walked over to the spot where Kouki once stood, she slowly stepped into where she felt he once stood and took a good look at what Kouki saw the last time she was there. Suddenly a soft and gently melody floated through the air, Sakura widened her eyes as she recognized the beautiful key progressions.

"You listen to Yiruma?" Sakura spun around in a bit of excitement, she had never dared to tell a soul about her secret obsession with the beautiful music made by this wonderful pianist.

Fox nodded his head embarrassingly "Yea... I know it's kind of old fashioned to be listening to this kind of music, but I thought you would know by now that I was just playing instrumental music this whole time."

Now it was Sakura's turn to be embarrassed "To be honest, I never really paid attention to what you were playing."

"I guess that makes us even." Eyes began to glimmer under the porcelain mask and Sakura instantly knew that he had something in mind. She stayed where she stood as the rider stepped gently into her comfort zone and held out his hand. "May I have this dance?" Sakura smiled and shook her head as she just processed the whole event, if it was Sasuke, he would have found a more classier and elegant manner to take her dancing as he had done in the past when Itachi's firm had a big banquet.

"If you know what song this is." Sakura replied.

Fox smiled as he pretended to give much thought to the melody. "Dream by Yiruma."

"Then you may." She held out her hand and Fox took it gingerly, lightly the two stepped in unison to the melody.

It was obvious that Fox did not know of any formal dance forms as he led the way.

Sakura smiled in delight as they song went into it's pleasing measure while unconsciously the two began to progressively step closer to each other. The rose ride didn't even notice the non-existent distance until the song ended and another Yiruma piece came into play, before she could say anything she felt Fox's cold mask touch her cheek lightly "Kiss the Rain." He whispered the title in a voice that struck a chord within her, she knew this voice from somewhere.

Before she could continue the thought she was over come by a fresh forest-like scent, she noticed how Fox smelled so fresh, so masculine in it's own way. If there was scent to freedom then it would be Fox's scent.

Gently the masked man dropped his light grip from her arms and down to her waist, but it did not stop just there as he slowly wrapped his hands around the small of her back. In return the petite woman snaked her arms around his waist and she rested her head on his shoulder and took note of the way his heart would race.

'Heart...' Sakura then looked up in a daze.

It was obvious that Fox was not Sasuke Uchiha.

"Wait... no, this is wrong." Sakura broke away from his embrace as Fox simply gazed at the confused teen "This... is all so wrong." Naruto watched in horror as tears threatened to spill from her gaze. "I don't even know your name!" She exclaimed, Fox looked out at the city as if it held the answer to this problem.

"I think this date is over." Fox's same rough voice returned as the music stopped playing. "I had a nice evening Sakura."

"No! Tell me who you are!" Sakura grabbed his arm, she was tempted to grab the daunting mask and put an end to this mystery. Slowly she reached for the dreaded disguise as Fox did nothing but stare at her. As her hand came in contact with the cold and lifeless item, the smaller rider suddenly noticed fierce eyes that glowed under the moon light.

It is in this second that she noticed the sadness that gleamed from them, and it is then that Sakura realized a crucial thing. "This is as real to you as it is to me... isn't it?" Somewhere in that time frame the two spent together this payment turned into the genuine thing.

"We both have our own definition of real." Fox replied as he removed her hand from his mask "You wouldn't like what you see behind this." The two rider's realized just how close they were to each other now as he rested the cold mask on her warm forehead allowing his lips to dangle centimeters from her own.

Silently he stepped away and mounted his bike, his back turned as he removed the mask in exchange for his helmet. Sakura watched still in a daze as the engine roared to life, it's rider turned to look back once more and the tribal tattoo of the beast gleamed in the light as it sped down the mountainous road.

'We almost kissed...'

* * *

Sakura remained in a daze as Monday morning came around, she spotted Sasuke as he pulled into the parking lot, a lot of girls began to call out his name as he wheelied through the lot. Sakura watched, a bit unimpressed by his actions.

'Fox... what is he...' she was too absorbed in her own thoughts to notice her boyfriend come behind her, quickly he enveloped her into a hug and she gave off a squeak.

"Geeze Sakura, it sounds like you've seen a ghost." Sasuke wore a smirk as he bent down and stole a kiss from her.

'Fox almost did that...' Sakura registered after feeling his lips on her own, the Uchiha realized just how out of it his girlfriend was and let go of her.

"You okay Sakura?" Sasuke questioned as Sakura's eyes met his own, she quickly looked away and Sasuke grasped her shoulders "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing Sasuke... my mom and I just got into a fight last night is all." She covered, Sasuke frowned and looked at her.

"You know that Itachi doesn't care if anyone comes over Sakura." He offered, right now Sasuke Uchiha would do anything to keep Sakura happy.

"I know Sasuke, and it's fine really." Sakura forced a smile, a bit disappointed that he did not see through her lie while Sasuke had a relieved look etched on to his face.

"Really now Sakura..." Sasuke wrapped his arm around her as the two walked into the school.

'Sasuke can be really caring at times.' Sakura smiled to herself as she leaned in a bit closer to the said teen as they continued walking down the hall. Any thoughts or doubt from before seemed to disappear as she stayed in his embrace, soon she found herself in front of the door to her classroom.

"I'll see you later Sakura." She nodded as he left her to go to his classroom, Sakura took a deep breathe and entered her class. The first thing that caught her eye was how down cast her blond friend was. She took a seat and looked out at her classmate, his face seemed worn for wear and it looked as if he did not get enough sleep the previous night.

"Naruto?" He didn't look up, she tried again, still no response. She touched his shoulder and he jumped and looked up in surprise at her.

"Hehehe... hey Sakura." Naruto put on a cheery face as soon as he caught sight of her. She frowned a bit, she remembered what Fox said to her on Saturday.

"Something wrong Naruto?" He leaned back in his seat with a casual look.

"What makes you think that?" He forced a grin and she knew it.

"Naruto." Her voice threatened, "I called your name and you wouldn't even budge." He sighed in defeat, he knew that this was coming one way or another.

"Well... it's kinda complicated Sakura." Naruto unconsciously felt for his keys in his pocket as he said this.

"I'll be the one to judge that." She replied as she sat down in her seat.

"You see..." Naruto wasn't sure how to put this. "I've got this friend and-"

"You've been thinking about her a lot?" Sakura interjected, she should have known it was a girl problem, Naruto smiled sheepishly as he nodded his head, he managed to get past that. "So what's stopping you then?"

"She's kind of outta my reach..." Naruto trailed off.

"Is she from your old school or something?" She remembered that Naruto was a transfer student from somewhere.

"Yeah, something like that." He replied.

"Well you-" The bell signaling the start of first rang and Naruto began to sit forward facing the teacher. Sakura followed the suit and listened to their teacher drown on about the founding fathers of Konoha. Sakura's thought's began to wander off and soon came off to a certain rider. Unknown to her said rider kept looking back and forth at her as he battled whether or not he should tell her that he's Fox.

'Well if I do then maybe I'll have a shot at her,' He mused 'But then what was the point of having this identity then?' another voice inside his head screamed.

'It's too keep attention off of you.' he reasoned with himself. 'But who was it again?' A snake seemed to snap out at Naruto as he thought of who that person was. 'Oh yea...' Naruto sighed, he was pretty positive that this guy was still after him, or to be more precise, what hung around Naruto's neck.

The blond took out a small, plain looking ring that did not seem very special, but if you looked closely at the inside of the ring intricate patterns revealed themselves and a few microscopic chips gleamed in the crevices of the ring. The technological work of art hung on a reliable chain around his neck, Naruto tucked the ring back into his shirt.

'If he finds me, then this key is his.' Naruto dropped his head in defeat, no matter what he will stay away from that bastard who killed his parents. 'Dammit Sakura, there's just so many things I wanna tell you.' Naruto glanced over at her with a defeated expression, at least he still had Fox.

Naruto sighed as he heard the bell for lunch ring, at least he found some resolve within himself. He found Sakura waiting for him at the door of the classroom.

"Feeling any better?" Sakura questioned, Naruto flashed her a genuine smile.

"Much." And with that the two headed off to the cafeteria to grab lunch.

As usual, with summer just right around the corner the weather proved to be great for the group to sit outside for lunch. Naruto was a bit surprised to find Shikamaru already at a table outside with his head down.

"Oi, Pineapple." Naruto called out, he didn't budge at the name, instead the Nara flipped Naruto the birdie and the blond grinned. "Aww c'mon Tactics, what's up?" Shikamaru raised his head lazily and looked up as Sakura and Naruto took a seat at the table.

"Ehh... might have to go to summer school." Shikamaru stole a orange off of Naruto's tray and began to peel it.

"Why? Your like the smarted guy I know." Naruto exclaimed, Sakura shook her head at Shikamaru.

"I cut one too many classes, they said I'll have to go to two Saturday schools in order to make it up, and I can't ditch any more of my classes." The teen debated whether or not he should light a cigarette on the spot, but a near by teacher told him other wise. "What a drag." He sighed as he split the orange and began to eat half of it.

"Well it's either that or summer school Shikamaru. Really now, what the hell do you do when your cutting class?" Sakura lectured, Shikamaru looked up at her with the same nonchalant expression.

"Sleep, smoke, and sleep." Came the reply, Sakura grumbled in disappointment and began to eat her food.

"Well if you get summer school it's on your head, and not mine." Came Sakura's retort, a few minutes later Ino and Hinata join the trio with their lunches. Ino gave Naruto a nod that puzzled him to no end, but he let it go as he took a sip of his drink.

"Hey Sakura." Ino greeted as they sat down, Naruto and Shikamaru watched as the girls seeped into their own conversation.

"Damn, can't believe those two left me with this." Shikamaru complained.

"Where are Chouji and Kiba anyways?" Naruto questioned as his friend sighed.

"They had to help out with our club today, but I'm here because our adviser banned me due to this whole attendance issue." Shikamaru began to chow down on the orange as Naruto mouthed and 'Oh'. The three were part of the soccer club, and at the end of the year all the clubs would take part of the Academy Festival so it was normal for everyone to be so busy around this time of year.

"What about you three?" Naruto turned to look at the three before him.

"We're part of the tea ceremony club." Ino answered, Naruto burst into laughter. Sakura gave her friend a puzzled look as Shikamaru shook his head, the whiskered teen was in for it.

"What's so funny about that?" Ino raised her voice.

"Hinata I can understand, but you _two_? In the tea ceremony club?" Naruto's laughter continued on as the two began to glare at him. "I mean, isn't the tea ceremony about elegance and and what not? You two are-" He never managed to finish his sentence as both girls kicked his shin under the table. Shikamaru sighed and promptly took Ino's apple as the whiskered teen went on about violent girls in a tea ceremony club.

"Have some class Naruto." Ino huffed as the said teen's pain subsided "We are the essence of elegance and class for your information, the whole school thinks so as well." Naruto some what agreed to that, from the time he's been at the school his heard plenty of guys talk about the three beauties before him, Hinata with her shy girl attitude and busty body. Ino with her daring attitude and flirtatious mouth. And finally Sakura... Naruto sighed as he was still at a loss of words from Sakura, much of this is due to the event that happened on Saturday.

Naruto vigorously shook his head, Ino noticed how worried the whiskered teen look, but she decided to keep her mouth shut on this one since Shikamaru noticed it as well and mouthed her the word 'No'.

"So how come you three aren't busy with club activities then?" He inquired as he took a bite out of his lunch, it calmed him a bit.

"O-our club usually meets after school on Thursday." Hinata answered "B-but with the Festival coming up we're going to start to meet more f-frequently."

"So what are you planning to do for the festival then?" Naruto was fairly interested in the up coming festival.

"We h-haven't really decided yet." She fidgeted a bit under Naruto's gaze, but settled down enough to finish "But Ino and Sakura suggested doing a joint performance with the karate club." Naruto raised a brow.

"Sounds pretty interesting already." Shikamaru nodded his head in agreement as he finished off an apple he took from Ino earlier. Now Naruto had more to look forward to as the school year comes to the end.

The rest of the school day proved to be uneventful as Naruto and Sakura did not say much to each other since the two were absorbed in thought about what happened on Saturday. Of course Sakura thought that Naruto thought about his little dilemma that dealt with his mystery girl, which was correct in all sense of the sentence, she just didn't know that this mystery girl was in fact her.

'Oh the fucking irony.' Naruto thought as he looked over at Sakura's zoned out face, the bell rang which ended the day.

After school it was only Ino and Sakura heading out to the parking lot, Hinata was picked up by her family's driver for what ever reason it was that needed her home so early.

"Sakura, about what you told me last night." Ino found out from her best friend about her little date with Fox, from what she heard the pinkette was utterly confused as to what she should do. "I think it's down right dirty that you thought you couldn't trust me with this." Ino crossed her arms to emphasize her point.

"I'm sorry Ino, it was just... humiliating to me at the time, but after Saturday, I just don't know anymore. I feel dirty... but in a good way." Sakura sighed as she consoled into her friend.

"Still Sakura, just keep in mind it's okay if it's just harmless flirting or whatever, in this case there is the exception that this was some kind of wager since you _lost _to him." Sakura shot her best friend a dirty look as she stressed that word she hated. "Besides, you don't even know who the hell this guy really is." Ino added on.

"He's sixteen and really buff." Sakura mused, Ino cracked into a smile.

"And here I thought Sasuke was the only guy for you." She was glad her friend was not stressing out as much as she was the day before.

"Well, I am the best friend of Mind Games, the biggest flirt in this town." Sakura mounted her bike and placed her helmet on.

"Of course Dragon Blossom, you learn from the best around." Ino placed her helmet on and got on her bike, the two were going to go on around town for a little bit. Both girls knew that this would probably be the last time they'll have time to spend together, after all the Academy Festival was one of the biggest festival's Konoha had.

* * *

After school, instead of taking the bus, Naruto headed on over to the parking lot structure that he saw on his first day at the Academy. He took extra care to come early to school as to not arouse any excitement. The Yamaha was parked on the top floor next to the stairwell so that it stayed in the shade while he was at school, since the parking structure was 6 stories high, the top floor remained as desolated as ever. Plus it didn't hurt that most, if not everyone, hates to leave their car in the sun in fear of sun damage or the fact that they don't take too well to the idea of driving all the way to top.

Naruto on the other hand, didn't mind it one bit. The blond checked his phone as he threw on his favorite bike jacket, he sent a quick reply to the text before mounting his machine. With that the engine echoed off the structure and the beast pulled a wheelie out of it's slumber as it's rider began cornering his way down the spiraling structure. The bike shot out of the lot so fast that anyone near by didn't have much time to look and see who it was.

'Hope this ramen place is good.' The blond rider thought back to last night when Konohamaru called him about the grand opening of a ramen shop near the Shopping District.

"Boss!" Konohamaru was already waiting for Naruto outside of his home, the ZXR was already out of the garage and he had his helmet on. Naruto took off his helmet and gave a skeptical look to the impatient eighth grader.

"I don't know Konohamaru... I think it might be better if you just ride with me." With that the two males exchanged an awkward glance that was cleared by both boys clearing their throats.

"C'mon Naruto, please." The young middle schooler begged, Naruto wasn't sure if he wanted to take the risk of having Konohamaru riding the Kawasaki to the shopping district.

"Wel..." Naruto was debating how the transportation should go.

"Boss..." Konohamaru pleaded, he was thinking about resorting to his last weapon, the look. "C'mon Nii-chan, pwease." Naruto sighed, he was most definitely not riding double with the boy after that.

"Alright fine, but please stop the look, it's starting to look weird on you." Naruto slipped his helmet back on and Konohamaru mounted his ZXR.

"What ever you say Boss." And with that the younger rider trailed the older one as they rode out to the new ramen shop near the shopping district. The ride was easy, but Konohamaru found just as invigorating as the last time he took the Kawasaki out, perhaps it was because he could get caught at any moment for riding without a license that fueled his adrenaline.

Naruto rode easily into a parking space that was right in front of the ramen shop, he took note of the name: Ichiraku Ramen Bar. His Jr. High companion pulled up next to the orange Yamaha, the thing with bikes is how easy it is to find and share parking with other riders. Since it was pretty easy to keep an eye on the bikes, Naruto opted to leave his helmet with his machine and Konohamaru followed his suit.

The place was still bustling even though the lunch rush ended two hours ago, but the pair did not wait long to be seated.

"So does the Old Man know your out?" Naruto questioned as he looked over the menu. Konohamaru gave a nod. "What about your parents?"

"They're coming home late again." Konohamaru replied, "It's their anniversary of something."

"Oh, so that's why you wanted to take the bike out." A fox-like grin took place on the blond.

Konohamaru returned with an equally devious grin "Yup."

"So, what are you gonna get?" The older teen asked "I think that I'm going pork ramen."

"I'm thinking beef ramen." Konohamaru replied after thinking it over. The waitress came around to take the two's order and to Naruto's surprise it was his classmate.

"Eh? Naruto?" Ayame looked down at her customer in surprise.

"Uhh... Ayame, right?" Naruto took off his bike jacket and set it down on his lap, he was glad that she did not take much notice of it.

"Yup!" She responded with a charismatic smile, Ayame then turned her attention to Konohamaru "Who might this be?" She pointed at his younger companion.

"I'm Konohamaru, the younger brother of the best ri-"

"One beef ramen and one pork ramen please." Naruto quickly interjected and shot Konohamaru a quick look. Ayame was a bit puzzled, but after realizing just how many people there were in the restaurant she quickly jotted down the pair's order and moved along.

"Boss, what was that for?" Konohamaru was confused, Naruto sighed.

"Listen kid," Naruto began after looking around to see if there would be anyone that mattered who could hear him. "You know how I told you that Fox is my street name right?" Konohamaru nodded "Well... no one except for you, the Old Man, and a few others know that I'm Fox... and I want it to stay that way, ok?"

"I got it Nii-chan." Konohamaru looked at his older brother figure in amazement. "But that's pretty cool though Boss, I mean, you having a secret identity and everything. It's like that one guy, super... super..." Konohamaru thought for a moment as he struggled with his train of thought.

"Superman?" Naruto offered in amusement, his companion snapped his fingers in agreement.

"Yeah him, when you think about it the warehouse is like your secret hide away, and Fox is your secret identity, and being 'Naruto'" Konohamaru used air quotes for this part which received a light hearty chuckle from the blond as he listened him go on "is like being that boring reporter Superman pretends to be."

"I'm boring now?" The supposedly least amusing of the two identities raised a brow at Konohamaru.

"You? Boring? Never!" Konohamaru exclaimed "You're Superman! You can never be boring."

"HA! A guy with no class like him Superman? Not a chance." Konohamaru looked off to the table next to them, he went a bit wide eyed when he saw a cute blond and an equally cute rose haired girl.

"I-Ino? Sakura?" Naruto was confused at the sudden appearance of the two girls. "What are you two doing here?" 'And when in the hell did you two walk in?'

"Well, Ayame told me about her dad opening a new restaurant over here so I thought me and Ino would go and check it out. Looks like I wasn't the only one thinking about it." Sakura replied, Ino raised a brow at Naruto's confused look. The whiskered teen quickly took note of the Yamanaka and quickly regained composure.

"Kami Boss, so many lady friends." He whispered, Naruto sighed as he glanced over at his two classmates who went back into their own conversation. "So do they know?" The older teen shook his head as he noticed Sakura's attention was back on the two.

"Konohamaru, introduce yourself." Naruto tapped the younger boy's shoulder and gestured to his classmates.

"Hehe, sorry Boss." Konohamaru faced the two girls "I'm Konohamaru Sarutobi." He greeted sheepishly, the girls giggled and Konohamaru felt a light blush creep upon his cheeks.

"Hi Konohamaru-kun, I'm Ino." Konohamaru's blush grew a bit as he gawked at her.

"And I'm Sakura, Naruto's classmate." Sakura giggled a bit more as Naruto's companion's face turned beat red.

The Uzumaki chuckled along with his friends as they lightly teased the young Sarutobi, the whiskered teen coughed as if to snap Konohamaru out of his daze.

"R-Right, nice meeting you ladies." Konohamaru managed out, he leaned in closer to Naruto once more. "Which one?" Naruto was a bit taken back by the question. After about five seconds of fully processing the question it was now his turn to blush.

The older boy shook his head, but the younger gave him a look as if he had been caught. Finally Naruto sighed in defeat and leaned in closer to the younger boy "Sakura..." he muttered. Konohamaru wore a big goofy grin as he heard the reply.

"Here you boys go!" Ayame placed two bowls of ramen in front of the two.

Naruto grabbed his chop sticks "Thanks Ayame, it looks delicious."

"Hope you enjoy it." She replied cheerfully, "Sakura, Ino!" The girl finally took notice of her friends "I'm glad you two came by."

"Of course Ayame-chan, we were pretty hungry after all" Ino said as she diverted her attention from the menu to her friend.

"Wow Ayame, this place seems pretty busy today." Sakura greeted.

"It sure is." Ino added as she went through the menu. "Me and Sakura will take two miso ramen." Ayame nodded and jotted the order down.

"I know, my dad has been dancing around with all the business." Ayame shook her head as she recalled going into the kitchen and hearing him sing about having a great retirement. Another table calling for the bill was heard. "Man is it busy, well I'll see you two tomorrow at the tea ceremony club then." She hurried off to the table calling for the bill.

"So how's the food?" To Ino's surprise the two boys have already polished off their bowls of ramen. "Damn you two are fast." The Yamanaka looked took note of just how big the portion _was_.

"Boss is a machine when it comes to eating." Konohamaru reached for some money in his pocket, but said teen stopped him.

"It's cool Konohamaru, I got it." Naruto took out his wallet out from his bike jacket that he still kept on his lap under the table, he took great care that the other two, Ino especially, didn't take notice of his unique clothing.

"But Boss-" The younger rider began.

"Really Konohamaru, just think of it as an apology for not coming out to visit for so long." Naruto gave a brotherly grin and Konohamaru nodded his head in understanding.

"Alright Nii-chan." Naruto payed the bill and motioned to Konohamaru that it was time to go, before the two stood up he passed his jacket to Konohamaru under the table and shot him a glance that the young Sarutobi understood at once. Ino kept her eyes on Naruto as he left, but she did not take notice of what his little companion held in his hands.

"So do you think Fox is in here?" Ino questioned as she scanned the room after watching the two step out.

"Well that was his bike and helmet next to that green ZXR." Sakura commented as she too looked around, she looked outside at the parking space once again to see just in time the two bikes pull out. "Dammit." She clenched her fist as the two bikes shot out of view.

"Looks like he left." Ino sighed, the two missed their chances of uncovering the mystery that was Fox's identity. "Wonder who the other rider was..." Ino pondered a moment as to who rode the ZXR.

If only they knew just how close they were to the truth.

"That's pretty cute of Naruto though." Ino commented as the two left the restaurant.

"What is?" Sakura questioned.

"To take his little 'brother' around." The two giggled, Sakura would have never guessed Naruto to be the brotherly type.

"That's true, maybe if we call him 'Nii-chan' he'll take us shopping." Sakura joked as she and Ino continued to walk around the Shopping District.

* * *

"How close was that Boss?" Konohamaru questioned the two sat down on his front porch.

Naruto sighed again, he could have sworn the he lost at least five years of his life to the situation "Really, really close. I think Ino is starting to suspect that something is up, but if that were Shikamaru I think that my cover would have been blown a long time ago."

"So... when can I finally come out with you to a meet?" The young Sarutobi inquired.

"Honestly, it might be a while." The Uzumaki looked down at the helmet next to him "If you show up with me to a meet, then you will be challenged for sure. Knowing you... I just don't want you to get hurt." He admitted.

"Nii-chan, please? Can you just bring me to one small meet? I promise I won't race." The middle schooler was more than eager to see his idol in action.

Finally, the rider sighed after a few minutes of silence between the two "I'll call you up one day, but you are not leaving my sight when we go to a meet."

With that, Konohamaru began to jump around in delight as Fox himself shook his head with the biggest grin on his face.

'I remember being like that every time when I first started out.' The rider thought as he kept staring down at the tinted visor 'One day... I hope that everyone will know the true identity behind this helmet.'

It was a shot in the dark, a fool's wish for gold, but it was of Naruto Uzumaki's few hopes in life as he hid a name, a legend that everyone thought to be long gone and dead.

The great legend that is Konoha's finest Hokage to grace her streets.

It is the legend of Minato Namikaze, or better known as the Yellow Flash.

Naruto reached for the ring he held close to him at all times, the intricate patterns and the microscopic chips that gleamed within the crevices made the inside of the ring glow under the sun light.

'This ring... this key... I still don't think that it's worth killing for.' The young Uzumaki sighed heavily.

If his father died for what ever the ring unlocked, then there is no chance in hell that he would lose this ring to anyone.

* * *

"You can come back here all you want, but you will never get in." The voice was low and menacing as it belonged to a masked man in a long dark coat, but it did not phase the man who stood in front of the vault's door way. The place was shrouded in darkness as the only light source available to them was the mechanical neon blue glow of the vault's security system, if the two men wanted any more lights, they would need the key for that.

"I'm just making sure that everything is fine here." The figure was wrapped in a dark over coat as he stood in front of a sealed entrance.

"We're famous for our security here." He watched as the man began to touch the device that would unlock the first half of the inner mechanisms of the vault "It's a shame that you didn't know about the second half of the lock."

"Ku..." Sharp menacing eyes pounded at the entrance in frustration, the one watching remained quiet as he mused to himself.

"Let me guess, you hit a dead end... _again_?" The next hit to the sealed entrance was much louder than the last. "Guess you're not getting those contracts then."

"I was a fool to think that _he _would be so easy to crack" A loud angry hiss echoed in the solitary room "And you're sure that we can't just blow the thing up?"

The one that stood by whistled low "Well, he did have the thing set it up so that anything and everything inside would be destroyed if the vault was... tampered in anyway it shouldn't be."

Again the dark figure pounded on the door "If only I didn't have _both_ of them kill..."

The taller man of the two patted the shoulder's of the slimmer one who pounded on the door once more "I could have you _killed_ by now you know." The pounding stopped and the slim figure faced his enemy, the orange mask that glowed in the dim lighting seemed to mock him in every way.

"And I could have you killed as well." The masked man remained undaunted by the threat "Kukuku... but we both know we can't kill each other, not just yet."

"Touche," The masked man looked over the vault "I could care less about what's inside that thing... but I do care what's inside that head of yours." Another man stepped out from the darkness.

"It can't be done at the moment." The new figure wore a coat similar to the masked man.

"I knew it, you sure are a tricky bastard Orochimaru. Let's go Zetsu, we have some cleaning up to do." He began to turn to take his leave to the outside world "It's a long ride back to Amegakure."

"Tell me Tobi, why were you here?" Orochimaru slumped to the ground as a few of his subordinates also stepped out of the shadows, it has become apparent to both men that their lives _were_ in danger by each other.

"To see if I was right about something."

Orochimaru's eyes went wide in rage as he understood the meaning behind those words "Where is the boy?" The hissing words echoed through the room.

A smirk was heard through the darkness as the foot steps faded behind the clamor of a heavy door being shut.

"In due time Orochimaru."

* * *

Naruto (Fox)- Yamaha YZF600

Sakura (Dragon Blossom)- Honda CBR600

Sasuke (Falcon)- Suzuki GSXR1000

Ino (Mind Games)- Kawasaki ZX6R

Shikamaru (Shadow)- BMW K1200S

Kiba (Fang)- Ducati 1000DS

Chouji (Muscle)- Yamaha Road Star Warrior

Konohamaru- 1994 Kawasaki ZXR 400

So there it is, the first three chapters re-written. I'm up for any and all suggestions on nicknames for future characters, even though it doesn't really appear that I made much changes in these first few chapters. As most of you know, I've taken down chapters 4-9 because of the major changes in the story line. I've noticed how flat my writing seemed to be so I changed a lot of it as you can see in this chapter. Once again, I hope that past followers have completely re-read the first and second chapters because I did make small, but key changes.

Thank You

_**-DK3**_


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